Trial of the Rivers
by FlameFireheart
Summary: All is going well for Lea as she finishes her time as a god, but when Nico goes mysteriously missing things take a turn for the worse. When news from the gods comes, saying that Lord Hades has been overthrown, Lea and some other experienced demi-gods must travel west to take back the underworld. *Sequel to Rise of the Night*
1. Chapter 1

I'm not going to lie, It's really fun being a god. You never get tired or hungry, unless you decide your going to sleep or going to eat, which makes it altogether a more pleasant experience. You don't have to go to school or do homework. You never have to do your laundry or the dishes. It's every teenagers dream. I didn't even have to comb my hair or take showers and my hair still fell flawlessly untangled down my back and I always smelled like peppermint. It seriously sucked on the last day of my trial, it was like owning a videogame just long enough to fall in love with it, but not long enough to finish it. Pure torture. After a long day of bending the eastern hemispheres dreams and delivering messages for Hermes, I hunkered down at my suite on Olympus. It was just a rental room, but the service was divine, literally. I had a full queen sized circular bed with a silk comforter woven by Circe Imports © the shimmering pink gold and magenta swirls shifting like a 3d image, in the middle of my master bedroom. Next door was my master bathroom with a bathtub the size of a large Jacuzzi with more buttons than I could press. I tried to test out some of the options and ended up being coated in rose smelling oils, and sticky froths that made my skin sparkle. One button even controlled what shape you wanted the fountain to created, I chose a Pegasus, naturally. I had a great view over New York and a holographic projector computer that allowed me to play unreleased videogames and watch Hephaestus TV unlimited. As I watched the not-yet-made tenth season of Supernatural I had to feel a bit guilty, I hadn't visited camp since December, and it was almost June now. I hadn't talked to Cloe or Ava in months. I still stayed in touch with Percy, who came up to Olympus with Annabeth for routine check ups on the building process. I talked with Nico every few days through dreams messages, a skill I had now mastered. I was still lonely, I spent the past six months solitarily bending people's dreams and deciding which ones they should remember. It was a complicated process, every dream should have a subtle message, buried deep within the chaos of random happenings. It was very difficult to decide how and what to do. Most of the dreams I dealt with were that of people who lived in Asia and Russia, so that I could sleep during the night here in America. This might have been a bad idea if people actually spoke in dreams, luckily, the figments just mouth the words and then telepathically transfer thoughts, or else I would have to learn a lot of new languages. Although, I would miss Olympus and all it's perks, I was still happy to be returning to normal life. It was like a huge weight off my shoulders. I sighed, flopping back onto my bed, the ten inch memory foam topper, enveloped me, and I fell asleep almost instantaneously. I didn't dream, instead I walked through the limbo of the dream world, the infinite field wrapped in fog, I didn't bother use the effort to change the scenery, although I was tempted. In stead I layed on the soft grey brown soil, and closed my eyes, of course I didn't fall asleep since I was already asleep. I hadn't figured out inception quite yet. I let the sound of the breeze ruffling through the grass calm me, and shifted the dream to smell like freshly cut grass. Just as I was about to reach a state of pure oblivion a strange voice wafted through the silence, "Beware the daughter of dreams, forced to hear cohort's screams. Morpheus' bane, will never know her kin's pain. On the quest she stands forsaken, left to watch as her friends are taken," I expected it to end there, but the voice continued, "But alas she fights with promise, a mortal with the heart of a goddess. Promises, pain, forgetfulness and fire, a threat to the gods so very dire." I opened my eyes slowly hesitant to see my surroundings, but nothing had changed, the voice still echoes in the distance. I tried to think about what it sounded like, but the details quickly slip from my mind like water rushing from open hands. All I can recall is the voice being faintly female and cool and slippery, like iridescent oil. I tried to focus, and remember everything I could but soon all that I can recall are the words and soon even those fade from my subconscious. Feeling a bit psyched from the strange happening, I tried to wake myself up, but nothing happened, my surroundings flickered like a holograph, revealing a flash of black. All I could make out from the flashing image are the slick black walls, high ceilings, and the familiar smell of minerals, I was in a cave. But not any cave, "Lea," a weak, distant voice groans. I sat bolt upright on my bed. I'm back on Olympus. I wiped the cold sweat from my hair line, and looked at my palm, damp with perspiration. It's strange, I haven't sweated in sixth months, it was not something I missed. I'm tempted to go take a bath and relax, but when I see the two packed duffel bags on my floor, I get the hint. My immortality was gone and now I was just a guest who had worn her welcome. I slung my bags over my shoulder and take one last look around, in the early morning haze my room seemed dark and dismal, no longer the deluxe hangout. I stepped, out of the doorway, and into the warm sun light, with winding marble pathway, glistens with little specks of opal reflecting the pink and orange sunrise. I took my time wandering back to the main path, Eventually I reached the fountain where I spent most of my spare time; a complex marble statue of Aphrodite rising from the ocean mist. It lined the main path, and with a short walk up the hill, you would be in the throne room. As usual some of my new godly friends were hanging out there. The statue was our meeting, place if we wanted to talk or go get lunch together at one of the booths, now it was my place to say goodbye. "Hey guys," I said, raising my voice over the eight other voices. Their chatter, ceased immediately and they all turned to look at me. It was silent for a few seconds, and awkward exchange of glances, then Pheme spoke up, "I heard you're no longer a goddess, Lea." "Ummm, no, not anymore," I said. Everyone was staring at me with pitiful eyes, I'm not sure if they were sad I was leaving or they just thought I was really stupid for denying immortality. Just then, Eleos, stood up from his seat of the fountains bench rim, and walked up to me. He stared at me with watery blue eyes for a minute, and then hugged me so tight my arms bent in a way they weren't supposed to. He lifted me from the ground and sighed the most dramatic sigh I've ever heard, like he was on a Spanish Soap Opera and then set me down. "I'm so sorry, Lea," and then he gave me a compassionate smile and I watched a tear trickled down his face. As to be expected, being the spirit of mercy, pity, and compassion, he was a bit of a drama-king when it came to goodbyes. One time he started sobbing when I told him about saying goodbye to Percy when I was on my quest. "Oh hush up, Eleos, contain yourself," said Pothos, who was standing with his arms crossed next to the fountain. Eleos sniffed, and gave me a longing look and then sat back down. My closest friend, Elpis, with her beautiful caramel hair and hazel eyes, stood up, her long white chiton billowing in the breeze, she hugged me warmly, and then put her hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, her ageless face smiling warmly, "You are going to do such great things, I believe in you." Her face was completely sincere, but I wasn't sure how deeply I should take high expectations from the goddess of hope herself. I then looked at the rest of my friends, Pothos, licked his lips and winked, which made me extremely uncomfortable, so I didn't spend much time making ye contact with him. He always made me want to crawl into a corner and hide my face from sheer awkwardness. I let out a small pitiful half-laugh and took a step back. When I met eyes with Hedylogos he stood, and bowed before me, kissing my hand like a prince from a sappy Disney movie, "It was so wonderful to get the chance to meet you, you truly are beautiful, and you really should know that," he batted his long thick lashes at me, "I hope you can visit us again soon, Venustus." "I'm Lea," I said, suddenly confused by the strange name he called me. He laughed lightly, "Venustus, means graceful." "Haha, oh right, thanks." I replied, trying to slip away as he brushed a stray hair out of my face. For some reason, even though I got along with them, all of the Erotes, really freaked me out, especially Himeros and Pothos. There was only one that understood me well. I looked up at Eros, he lounged on the statue lazily lying on part of the Marble sash that twirled and twisted around the Aphrodite statue, floating far from her body. He smiled at me and winked. He was a bit off, looking a little too far to my left, but I got the notion. I nodded at the rest of my friends, and turned, heading back down the main path to the empire state building, after a few feet I looked back, grinning and whispered, "Bye, Eros," And I knew, even though he was almost ten yards away, he heard me. With that I set off. On the way, one of my not-so-close friends, Chloris, goddess of flowers, handed me a bouquet of iridescent white roses and gave me a hopeful smile. I thanked her and continued on, when I reached a point where the golden-lined clouds parted to show the Empire State building, I turned off the main path and found one of the many Iris-message fountains positioned around Olympus. I fumbled for the drachma in the back of my hot pink Jean's pocket and easily flipped it into the rainbow and recited instinctually, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, except my offering and show me Henry Reclin, Camp Half Blood, Long Island." The rainbow shimmered and an image of Henry sitting on the porch of the big blue house appeared, he sat with his hand covering his mouth in a deep hunched thinking pose, staring off into the distance. "Boo," I said. He jumped, almost toppling out of his plastic chair, and swung his head to look at the shimmering image that had appeared next to him, "Hey Lea," his face brightened considerably, "Are you ready for me to come pick you up?" "No, dad, I just carried my bags all the way down to this fountain to tell you I miss you," I replied sarcastically. He laughed, "I'll see you soon," and then stood up and swished his hand through the Iris message, making the image dissipate. I sighed, hefted my bags, picked up my bouquet, and walked to the edge of the path. I stared at the New York streets miles below me, I carefully plucked every petal from my roses and dropped them, watching as they fell in a glittery rainbow of colors. The second I had dropped the last petal, the remains left in my hand dissolved into shimmery dust which I released over the edge too. I wasn't sure if to the pedestrians below if it seemed like beautiful confetti or if it just looked like a fairy had thrown up, either way I was glad to have lightened my load. I couldn't help but smile, I was finally going home. I stepped through the gigantic arched elevator door, turning to watch as they closed behind me, shutting me off from Olympus, "Camp-Half Blood, here I come."


	2. Chapter 2

Henry came and picked me up in the new Camp van. We chatted casually about my experiences as a goddess and I contemplated telling him about my strange dream. I ended up deciding against it, it was probably just my subconscious trying to tell me something. Being in the van reminded me of the first day of my quest, almost six months ago, Nico, Percy and I eating French toast in the backseat. Thinking about it made my chest hurt, I missed those days, where I got to travel across the U.S. with my two best buds, fighting monsters as we went. We arrived at Camp within the hour and I quickly unloaded my bags and ran up the crest of the hill. Percy would be finishing his time as praetor for the year soon, and he'd be arriving at Camp in a week. I looked out over the strawberry fields, the sun was now fully risen and campers were starting to head to the dining pavilion for breakfast. Everything looked so serene, exactly how it should be. Three Pegasus riders circled above the sand dunes, the rock wall was spurting lava, and some Ares kids were chasing down a Hermes guy who had stolen the Volleyball and run off with it. I threw my duffel bag over my shoulder and raced down the hill. I slide-tackled the Hermes guy, receiving many cheers from the Ares cabin, and then took the Volleyball and sprinted off. Soon the Ares kids were on my tail but I was faster than them. Unfortunately my bags were weighing me down. I nearly ran into an auburn haired girl and I instinctually shoved the volleyball into her hands, then kept running. I didn't look back but judging by the Ares cabin's angry threats and cursing I'm guessing she had taken off with it. A fearsome game of keep-away had just begun. I took a minute to catch my breath and then continued off to my cabin. It was already unlocked and I instinctually stepped in and chucked my bags into the back left corner, so that they landed in a heap. There were already two people in the cabin, and the taller one yelped and failed to get out of the way of my pink projectile duffel bag. What she was holding, which looked like black coffee in a red solo cup, spilled all over the floor. When I examined it closer it looked more like Drakon blood; thick and shiny black. "Oh Lea," I cried the girl, "So glad you're back! I thought you were gonna get here tomorrow, oh well, sorry about your floor." She stepped forwards and hugged me, and it was only then that I realized who it was, Cloe, she had grown an inch or two, and she'd tanned a lot, going from snow white skin to beautifully pale, she'd gained a few light freckles, and she looked so much older. Which made me think, how old was she really? Probably sixteen or seventeen. She smiled at me and I noticed Ava standing in the back corner of the room, she was also holding a red-solo-cup. She hadn't changed at all, she had the same choppy red-brown hair, and impish face, she was a 4'11 stick of dynamite in disguise. She smiled a greeting then glanced at he wall. I followed her gaze and gasped, the entire cabin was painted, the walls had beautiful pink and red poppies painted on them. I noticed only half of the flowers had beautifully done black calligraphic outlines. "Sorry, were not quite finished, we're still doing the lineart," said Cloe. So that's what the red solo cups were filled with, paint, and I had thought it was drakon blood. I guess I was still in a mythological mindset. "Wow, guys, it's beautiful, thank you so much," I replied, gazing around the room. Cloe grinned and began ushering me out of the room, "Now you need to get out while we finish up, go, go, go," And she shoved me out the door. For a while I stood on my porch deciding where to go next, then hopped down my steps and briskly walked into the forest. It'd been almost three weeks since I'd last talked to Nico, and I really missed the sound of his voice. He was the only one, besides Percy, that understood why I had turned down immortality. I had mentally walked this path hundreds of times, I knew every twist and turn, the route engrained in my mind since the day when Nico dragged me here the first time. I came upon the small clearing within minutes, the spongy brown soil squishing beneath my converse. I walked up to the large oak and ran my fingers down the trunk, something about it was different, it seemed older; the bark was peeling and it seemed grey and withered. Like it had aged three hundred years in two months. The indent where there had once been the notch, was curling in on itself, enveloping the hand sized natural button, the entrance had been sealed off. So much for that plan. Maybe Nico had sealed it off so that no monsters could escape up into Camp, it was probably a good idea. I decided to go get some breakfast, and then played a few rounds of volleyball with some Apollo boys, and then practiced sword fighting with the Hermes cabin. Travis and Connor battled me at the same time, and let's just say; Connor needs a new helmet and Travis needs a new nose. I was a bit rough with the hilt of my sword. It was five o'clock, when we finally got Travis's nose to stop bleeding. I felt a bit guilty but he was smiling and laughing so much, I didn't think it was first time getting a broken nose. "Ha, I hope your on our team tonight, you're a brutal little dame," laughed Connor, trying to pop the immense dent out of his helmet. "Capture the Flag in tonight? Sweet. I wonder whose team I'll be on." I replied, pressing the button on my sword so that it converted back into a necklace. "The bigger worry is whose team you're not on, because they should know to run and hide," joked Travis. "Haha, I'm not that good," I replied, latching on my necklace. Travis and Connor gave each other sideways glances. "I'll see you later tonight I guess," I said, and headed out of the arena. I had two hours to kill before dinner so I Decided to swing by the armory, just to see if Ava was there. I took my time getting there stopping to say hi to familiar people, most of them smiled and chatted lightly, but I could see in their eyes they had something else on their minds, a question eating at their subconscious. I was tempted to use my powers and read their emotions. Then I remembered, I didn't have that power anymore. Instead, I would just smile and casually walk away. The armory loomed before me, chugging out smoke and heat radiating from it. I stepped inside, the heat and hit me first, and then the noise, the constant clanging of metal and whirring of gears. At one of the work tables a guy in a welding mask and a scorched camp t-shirt stood, welding a small trinket. I watched him for a while as he carefully shaped the metal. After a few minutes he turned off the blow torch, and the glowing metal cooled. It's only then that he seems to notice me, and he lifts up his mask revealing his face. He grins at me, eyes wide, "Lea!" "Hey, Jake, whatcha doing?" I ask walking forward to see his latest project. He picks up the trinket in his gloved hand, showing me a extremely detailed fairy charm. "It's gorgeous," I gasped. He deep tan skin seemed to get redder at the cheeks, and he looked at it bashfully, "It's for Victoria, she's going through a fairy phase." "I'm sure she'll love it," I said, examining the intricate silver figure. "Jake," called someone from deeper in the armory. "Yeah," he yelled back. A girl emerged through the smoke she wore welding goggles and I could see half of her extremely toned stomach through a large burn-hole in the front of her shirt, "Ten minutes until dinner, we better start packing up shop." "Okay," he replied and then went to flipping a bunch or switches and unplugging different wires. The girl smiled and nodded at me, I couldn't see her eyes but I could tell by her warm auburn hair it was the girl I'd given the volleyball to earlier. The then disappeared back into the darkness of the back room. "See you later Jake," I said to his back as he crouched underneath the table fiddling with some wires, and left the armory. * I headed down to the lake, one of my favorite places, second to the picnic table. For a while I stood on the dock looking out over the glimmering water. A few naiads drifted around the depths, paying no mind to me. I was turning around to go up to the pavilion early but something caught my eye as I turning. A glimmer, not like a reflection, it was too silver. I tried to look closer, there was definitely something there, small and distant but brilliant. As if it caught every ray of sunlight, even from the bottom of the lake, and enhanced the shine, projecting it. Something drew me to the object, it could have been a old tin can or an earring someone dropped whilst canoeing, but whatever it was, it's mystery entrance me. I checked my clothes, camp shirt and white (well, they were white…once) shorts and my hot pink converse. I quickly unlaced my shoes kicking them off and then dove into the water. It felt amazing the cool. Clear water, rushing over my skin, washing away the dirt and grime. I swam towards the shine, but the father I swam the more distant I realized it was. Then I realized how deep I was and how little breath I had left. I wasn't close enough to the bottom to kick off nor was I close enough to the surface to make it there without choking. For a few seconds, I panicked. Drowning in the lake would be a really pathetic death for a demi-god. Time slowed down for a second, there was no way out. Just as I exhaled my last bit of oxygen I looked up. The sun shone brilliantly through the water, illuminating the green around me. Tiny fish swam past curiously. I wanted them to help, they could breathe but I couldn't, an irrational jealousy overtook me. They swam past, regarding me how I would regard a starving pigeon on the street. Stupid fish. Was this my final thought, hating a fish for being a fish. Great. Very heroic. I closed my eyes, I had a few second then I would need to breath. The chest ached, I breathed in, water entered my lungs and it hurt like nothing I've ever known. It was a peaceful pain. The worst kind. Looking up at the surface, through the water vision going blurry, something masked my vision. Then suddenly I was breathing again. There was some sort of cloth wrapped around my face, over my mouth and nose. I could breathe. I could breathe. I could breathe. Oxygen had never tasted better. I felt at the cloth with my fingers, somehow I knew this was what was letting me breathe. I was a sash of some sorts, made of a weightless material. It was deep green and semitransparent. A face appeared in front of me, she smiled, her brilliant green eyes staring into mine. I jumped, bubbles rushing out of my nose. She giggled lightly. Then took hold of my hand with hers and pulled me through the water. A naiad. Limnade to be specific. A protector of maidens. She didn't say a word, but she pulled me closer to the little silver trinket. After a few minutes we had reached the bottom of the lake, at least a hundred feet of water was above but the pressure didn't seem to affect me. My feet hit the bottom , the silt flew up in little whirls around my bare toes, squishing softly. I was about to look at the naiad, to ask why she brought me here, but she had disappeared. So had the shawl. Luckily I still had a few minutes of breath. The silver object gleamed just before me. Resting half buried in the muck. I quickly reached forward and picked it up. It was a ring. Beautiful polished silver, more shiny than anything I've ever seen. It was a simple band, but there was something inscripted into the side. I didn't bother looking now. I stuffed it into my pocket and looked up. Someone, or I should say something, was looking back. A huge bloodshot eye stared down at me, the pupil as tall as me. Timothy. Timothy the kraken. Well, crap. He didn't look particularly angry, but I couldn't really tell. Before I could move a tentacle curled around me. Squeezing me like a giant corset. Next thing I knew I was being lifted out of the water. I broke the surface coughing, and was roughly plopped onto the shore. Soaking, dripping wet. Both outside and in. Timothy's tentacle retreated back into the water. I vomited lake water, then sniffled, looking around me. A group of ten demigods stood, mouths and eyes wide open. This was probably the first time they'd seen a girl be dropped onto the grass by a gigantic tentacle. I stood up, watching them as they stared at me. Wiped my nose, then walked casually back to my cabin. There was still a half-hour till Capture the Flag. I changed into dry clothes, jeans, pink tank top, purple hoodie, my sual and whipped my head around like a dog. Drying my hair in the only way I ever have, lazily. I don't think I've ever touched a hair-drier. I pulled the ring from my short's pocket. It looked like the one from Lord of the Rings, except silver. The writing read:Δώρο του Ποσειδώνα It was Greek, but my head hurt too much from the water for me to read it. I set it on my bedside table and redid my ponytail, then walked outside. After a few minutes of wandering, the gong rang and I headed up to the pavilion. A lot of kids were already there chatting excitedly about the CtF game. I went to the buffet and got a chicken bacon delite mini pizza then sat down at the minors table. By the time all of the campers had arrived, the sun was low in the sky. I waited for one of my friends to come and sit next to me, but Cloe and Ava had there own tables and I spotted Maria on the other end of the table with a bunch of new Hecate friends. I was okay with sitting alone, I'm not really a big fan of having people watch me eat, but I was still lonely. My chest ached thinking about Nico and Percy, I couldn't wait to see them. Every few minutes I would notice someone staring at me as I sat alone, when a smiled at then they just gave me a wary half-smile back. I finished dinner early, and headed back to my cabin to get prepped. Ava and Cloe had finished painting, and it smelled like tempera. The walls looked amazing; simple and elegant. I took a minute to fully appreciate it, and made a note of what I should say when thanking them. I went over to my bags and pulled out my Capture the Flag outfit, a purple hoodie, my armor, leather fingerless gloves, my messenger bag and forks. I pulled the hoodie over my tank top, and cinched on my gloves, After pulling my armor over my head and lacing up my combat boots, I was ready. I sat on my bed for a minute , listening to the sound of the forest. The conch horn sounded in the distance, I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and pushed open my small screen door. Twilight hung over camp, making everything gold and violet tinted. I headed to the clearing at the forest's edge where the blue team usually meets, a large group of demi-gods were gathered there. A few of them were shouting, it seemed like there was an argument going on. I walked up cautiously not wanting to get caught in the middle of it. Travis and Connor were going head on with three Ares kids with red plumed helmet's. One of the Ares kids began shouting, "You can't have her on your team! She's a god! That's not fair! Even you can see that!" "She was a god! She's not anymore!" Argued Travis. "So what?! She's still super powerful! She could probably snap her fingers and put us all to sleep! You heard what she did to Nyx! And that was a titan!" I suddenly became very aware of myself, and tried to sink as well as I could into the shadows. Unfortunately, when I tried to hide, that's when people started noticing me. All at once all eyes turned to me, I fidgeted with my messenger bag's strap. "You can't have her, it's too much of an advantage," growled the tallest Ares girl. "Well, you can't have her either," spat Connor. "Well, than I guess she can't play." Travis looked at me with pitiful eyes, "sorry," he mouthed. I forced a grudging smile, "It's okay I get it. You guys have fun." I turned and strode as confidently as I could out of the clearing and didn't look back. I walked out a across the familiar fields, which suddenly seemed very foreign. I ambled to the canoe lake and sat on the edge of the dock, skimming the soles of my boots along the water. I wished Percy was there, he'd probably put his arm around me and say something like, "Their loss." Suddenly my nose began to run and tears started streaming from my eyes. This was not the camp I remembered. I remembered being accepted, and having endless friends and never being alone. I'd never felt so lonely in my life. I buried my face in my hands and let myself sob. I do this to myself all the time; I get my hopes up and when reality isn't quite there, disappointment floods my eyes. I flicked the tears off my hands into the lake. Seconds later droplets of water sprayed my face. I looked up, "Percy?" "Nah, sorry love," replied a voice from by my feet. I looked into the water to see an unexpected but familiar face. "Mea!" I sighed happily. "Hey girlie, what's the matter? I can't have you contaminating my precious fresh water anymore with those salty tears!" She said, her smile so radiant it was contagious. I laughed through the tears, "What are you doing here?" "Turns out Lake Erie wasn't the place for me," she replied, she looked away as if there was something she didn't want to say, "a bit over-populated." I was curious what she meant, but I didn't pry. "Anyways," she continued, "It's nice here, small, but the water is fresh and the naiads are nice so it'll make a good home-sweet-home. And another plus is that the boys here are really nice," She glanced over at the shore line an Apollo boy holding a blue plumed helmet, stood on the lake edge staring at her, she grinned a American sweetheart smile and twirled her fingers and tilted here head in the perfect, "Hey there," way. The boy froze, blushed a furious red, and then power walked away with his eyes locked on his shoes. She and I exchanged looks, and then both laughed, "I think you've got some secret admirers," I joked. "Always," she said mischievously, and then winked. "Oh, did you loose a ring? I found one earlier, simple silver." "No," she replied. "Hmm okay, if anyone says they've lost one, tell them I found it." The sun sparkled off the lake, making the water look like liquid gold, and trust me, I know I'm talking about. Mea and I stayed in silence for a few minutes, watching the sun sink below the sand dunes. "I think I'm going to go to bed," I sighed, standing up. "Alright, I hope to see again soon," she replied, then she looked me straight in the eyes, "Tomorrow will be better, it always will, remember that," and then with a flick of her tail she dove beneath the surface, disappearing in a flash of metallic teal. I strolled back to the cabins feeling better, I watched from afar as the blue team ran whooping and cheering out of the forest, the blue flag in Will Solace's hand. I walked past Zeus' and Hera's cabin, but I stopped before Poseidon's. Carefully, I pushed open the front door, inside it smelled like the pacific coast, like the beaches in Monterey my mom used to take me too. Even though most of the cabin was grey, it felt the opposite of dismal, a fountain gurgled in the corner, an abalone carousel hung from the ceiling, the bunk bed frames seemed to be made from sea rock, even with little living mussels and starfish on them. I sat on the lower bunk, curling the soft baby blue cotton sheets in my fingers. I don't remember lying down or falling asleep, or even dreaming but I woke up to sunrise and somebody else was in the room.


	3. Chapter 3

I sat bolt upright, grabbing for my sword, which wasn't there. Then fell back, "Percy!" "Sup, goldilocks?" He said, grinning as he unpacked his bags. "Sorry, I just…fell asleep," I muttered, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "You really miss me that much?" I joked. "Yeah," I sighed, honestly. Sliding out of the bed. He turned and looked at me, his expression a little sad, then hugged me tightly, resting his chin on top of my head. "Cheer up, now we can go kick butt together," he said, "But first I have to unpack, "Go get some breakfast, I'll meet you at the pavilion." I took a minute to redo my ponytail, which had half fallen out during the night, and took off the rest of my armor. I had no idea how I managed to sleep with shoes and gloves on. I must have accidentally pressed my armor's button in my sleep last night, because it was in mist form. As Percy bustled around the room, I looked into the fountain, for a second the image shimmered, and I saw a pale figure in black clothes, curled in a dark room. "Lea," a weak voice called, echoing from the fountain. The same voice from the dream. I stepped backwards shocked, right into Percy who was shoving his clothes into drawers. "Whoa, hey," he said, catching me. "Did you see that?" I stammered, the image in the fountain was gone. "What?" he inquired curiously. "The fountain, I saw somebody, they called my name." He furrowed his brow, "Weird, that's an iris message fountain, 2nd edition, I broke the first one. Maybe someone's trying to talk to you." "I've heard the voice before, in one of my dreams." "Someone powerful." "We'll visit Rachel later, maybe she knows something." I nodded, and then Percy nudged me out the door. After a few minutes of standing alone at the dining pavilion, Percy met me and we had omelets while he told me all about his time as praetor, every few minutes he'd punch me on the shoulder an tell me to smile, but I was too distracted, I knew that voice. We spent the morning with the Hermes cabin, doing archery then played fetch with Mrs. O' Leary in the arena. Percy ended up covered in slobber and I ended up more tired than I've ever been. By the end of the afternoon, Percy and I were sprawled out on the shaded pavement, panting, and laughing wearily. "Sorry, I missed Capture the Flag last night, I heard you didn't get to play," said Percy staring up at the clouds. "Yeah," I sighed, "Everyone thinks that I'm too powerful to be on any one team." "Bah, next time I'll be on the other team, that'll balance things out," He chuckled. I punched him playfully, "Haha, sure, keep thinking that." He grinned, "Are you saying you're more powerful than me? I'm a son of Poseidon!" "But I'm a Primum-cruor, ex-god," I said in a mock-boasting way. I rested my head on his shoulder. "With great power comes great responsibility," I sighed sadly. He sighed too, "Yeah, story of my life." We sat in silence, listening to other campers shout battle cries and curses, Mrs. O' Leary pant and the clang of metal. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift. When I opened my eyes again, the first colors of sunset were dancing over the camp. Percy snored next to me, I took a few minutes to enjoy the peace. Somewhere in my subconscious something told me it wouldn't last. The voice still edged at my mind. I shook Percy, and he jumped to attention, "How long was I out?" "At least an hour," I replied, "We missed lunch." "No wonder I'm hungry," He said, making a pouty face. "C'mon let's go," I said, standing and stretching," We can stop by the pavilion for a snack." We hiked across the field, every few minutes a camper would come up and greet Percy, and they'd chat for a while, he certainly had a lot more groupies than me. I guess that's what happens when you save the world…twice. We stopped at the pavilion and ate organic potato chips until we were decently full. "Rachel?" I asked, lacing up my shoe. "Mmhm," said Percy through a mouth full of potato chips. He led me through the forest up to the small secluded cave. It looked ominous from the outside but the inside looked like a gypsy's hideout. Through sheer purple curtain was a small room with a deep Scarlett Persian rug on the floor and paintings lining the walls. Through a wireless radio indie rock blasted, a band I recognized as "The Black Keys". In the far back of the room a barefoot girl in ripped jeans and a paint splattered white blouse danced around whilst making random slashed with her paint brush at a piece of canvas. She looked so into what she was doing I didn't want to interrupt her. Percy evidentially didn't mind at all, "Hey Rach!" She noticed us standing at the entrance and grinned wide. She danced over to the radio and turned it down, "What's up guys?" Rachel looked different from when I had last seen her, over six months ago, she seemed older, more at peace. Her hair was longer now past her shoulders, and her face and body had thinned. But she still had the same brilliant green eyes with the mischievous and defiant sparkle. She hugged Percy and smiled at me brightly. "Lea, has been having strange dreams, those type of strange dreams," began Percy. Rachel nodded and Gestured at a feinting couch on one side of the room. Percy and I sat down next to each other, Rachel sat across from us in a huge plush armchair. I felt like I was at counseling, but with two of my friends posing as my therapists. "Tell me about it," said Rachel, her voice soothing, and practiced, as if she was used to this. I explained what had happen and her face grew dark and troubled, "I have also been having similar dreams. She stood up and guided us to the back of the room, she put her hand on my shoulder reassuringly, the painting she as working on made my stomach drop, it was of the figure in the dark room. Only one new thing was present, a silvery form, standing to his right. "A shade," muttered Percy, "That must mean…" he trailed off. I looked up at him, hoping he would go on, but his face showed true astonishment. I followed his gaze. Rachel stood over me, her eyes glowing the same eerie green just as she has when we first met, when she issued the Prophecy of the Night. For a few seconds she stared at me, her hand clutching my shoulder, her fingernails digging into my skin, with a grip of iron, she stared at me for a few minutes. Panic rose in my gut, I knew exactly what was coming. A cold deep voice echoed through the cave:  
Beware the daughter of dreams, forced to hear cohort's screams. Morpheus' bane, will never know her kin's pain.  
On the quest she stands forsaken, left to watch as her friends are taken, But alas she fights with promise, a mortal with the heart of a goddess. Promises, pain, forgetfulness and fire, a threat to the gods so very dire,  
A journey to the land of the dead, Lives' held on a single thread, Recall the god's-bane who have gone before, A final quest to restore.  
Rachel feel forwards but Percy caught her before she hit the ground, and laid her out on the feinting couch. We stood next to each other breathing heavily. "I think it's time for another quest," breathed Percy, "9th one in counting, I wonder if I can get ten, I'll bet that's a record." "We better go tell Chiron," I suggested. The door to the Big House was unlocked, the screen door clacked behind us, from the main room I heard Henry call, "Hello?" "It's me," I called, and we stepped into the room. Henry looked at us curiously, "Is something wrong?" "We're going to have to make a few calls," said Percy. Chiron walked into the room and looked at Percy inquiringly. It took us a few minutes to explain. Chiron furrowed his brow, "It seems that you have to travel to the underworld, and the last lines, it seems as if the quest members are specific." "I think it means bring along demi-gods who have gone on a quest before, but that's much more than three people," said Percy. "I fear that rule no longer became relevant after your many deviances," said Chiron. "So that would be, myself, Lea, Jason, Thalia, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Clarisse," summed Percy. "That's ten powerful of the most powerful demigods, you'd have every monster on your scent from the first second," said Henry. They continued working out the details, I drifted, my mind couldn't seem to accept the fact that I was going on another quest. Let alone leading nine other demigods, all older and more experienced than me. After what seemed like hours but must have been minutes Percy shook me, "Lea, are you alright? How do you feel?" "Like I've been stepped on by a Cyclops," I replied. "Don't worry, you were great last time, I'm sure you'll do just as well this time. The second quest is always the most nerve-wracking." "Fine?" I asked, "Did you not hear the 'cohort's screams' and 'forsaken' part?" His reassuring smile flickered and he looked away. "Don't worry, with a dauntless team like that, we can't fail." "We don't even know what were supposed to be doing," I argued. "We know that were supposed to go to the underworld and that should be easy enough, there's an entrance in New York." A small rush of relief came to me, at least we wouldn't have to cross the country. Percy kissed my forehead, "Now I'm going to make some iris messages, you should probably get some dinner, Chiron is going to announce the quest there." Everyone else left the room, I stayed sitting on the leather couch bathing in the late day sunlight coming in from the window, I stuttered. Trying to call them back, but instead, I spoke out to the air weakly, "I know who it was in the dream…" The voice had finally registered in my head. "Nico."


	4. Chapter 4

I took a minute to let the realization settle, the leopard head on the mantle snarled a yawn, making me jump out of my daze. I hastily strode from the Big House, and up to the dining Pavilion, I sat at the table alone for a while, watching the other campers play carelessly. Sunlight danced of the lake and the ocean in the distance. The air was cool and calm and I could hear the Hermes cabin laughing at some new prank they had just pulled successfully. After about a half-an-hour the dinner bell rang and campers started filing in, chatting happily, perfectly oblivious. Percy came after a few minutes, he first went up to Chiron and they talked in hushed serious tones for a while, nodding and gesturing with their hands. I was dying to join the conversation, but I felt like I'd feel more alone with them than on my own. When they finally finished discussing whatever it was, the Pavilion was full. Chiron tapped his hoof against the marble floor twice and cleared his throat. The other campers feel silent. "I have some exciting news," announced Chiron, his voice calm and clear, "A new quest had been issued." At that murmurs spread like wildfires. Chiron cleared his throat again. Dead-silence. "As you know Lea Reclin, Percy Jackson, and Nico Di Angelo left for a quest not but a half of a year ago. Once again Lea and Percy have been called forth to complete the gods wishes, along with the other half-blood campers you have been o a quest in the past decade. We will wish them out best as they travel to the underworld." Hushed whispers between the campers, most of them looked at me with pity, but I noticed multiple jealous glares. I could hear many kids from the Ares cabin say, "Why does she get another quest? Percy's been on seven already! Why don't you let some of us have a chance!" With a harsh look Chiron silenced them immediately. I slipped away in silence into the sunset casting the same beautiful golden rays as the dusk before. I walked past the climbing wall, past the canoe lake, and across the sand dunes. The beach was completely empty, the only sound that could be heard was the waves lapping against the beach. For a few minutes I was happy, at peace at least. I hummed an Ingrid Michaelson song to myself, enjoying the warm sunlight soaking into my skin, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. The salty air flooding my lungs. All of the fun beach memories from my past flicker through my head. I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Hey Perc," I said, turning around, but then scrambled across the sand, screeching, "HERMES! You scared me!" "Sorry, I did not intend to frighten you," he said, then grinned. He looked younger than usual, at my request he had shortened his hair in order to stay with the times, but only after multiple objections and stating "Fashion is always changing, it's impossible to catch up." He was wearing a simple white shirt with "Hermes' Postal Service" printed in emerald green, and khaki pants with tennis shoes, he looked about thirty, maybe older, but his eyes showed the true weariness of his age. He and I had worked a lot together over the past few months, when there were multiple versions of me out sorting dreams, sometimes I'd deliver messages for him. He was the ones who taught me how to shift my form, I didn't alter myself much, just angel wings and more evenly toned skin. "So another quest," he said, putting his phone on silent, much to George and Martha's objections. "Yeah," I sighed, "Lucky me," I muttered sarcastically. "You know you shouldn't be so bitter, a lot of demigods would love to go on quests." "Then why don't you let them, and let me have some peace," I objected. "Because they aren't as strong as you." "I can put people to sleep and send dream messages! Big whoop!" "You know that's not what I mean," he argued calmly, "Most kids your age would crumble under the pressure, but your heart is strong and you are courageous, just like Percy." "Well thanks, but why does everyone compare me to Percy?" I asked. "Because you have the same destiny as him, you are a Hero of Olympus, just like the other nine you will be traveling with." "Then how come I didn't go on that fancy trip to Greece with the Seven?" "That was not your destiny, your part to play comes later in this story." "But I already destroyed one Titan," I groaned. "Nyx, may be an elder, but she did not have a plan, she assumed that she could take over with only her power," He stopped but I felt like he had something more to say, I looked at him expectantly, he continued, "I fear that she was only a diversion." Only a diversion? But who would use such a powerful titan as a pawn? And who would she be working for, even if unknowingly? "I know the thought is unsettling, but it's the most logical reason why your first quest was so easy," explained Hermes. "Easy?" I spat, "That's what you consider easy? Nico got flung down the side of Mt. Shasta and I had to use so much of my powers that every human in a ten mile radius fell asleep." Hermes nodded grimly. I flopped back onto the sand and groaned dramatically. "Just remember although I can't interfere on quests, there always are loopholes." I was just about to ask what he meant, but when I turned around, he was gone. "Well, bye then," I said aloud to the air. Just then something tackled me from the side, and I got a faceful of sand. "Hey girlie!" said Annabeth, who was now sitting perfectly still beside me, ignoring the fact that I was snorting out sand and sea shells. "Percy told me were going questing," she said with a brilliant smile, one that hadn't left her face since Olympus in December. She was loving the fact that the Prophecy of the Seven was over and Hera was out of her life…mostly. She and I had spent a lot of time together on Olympus as she did routine checks, and we were extremely close now. She loved explaining to me all of the types of column and how different roofs were designed for different things. I didn't really listen, but I could tell she was excited to talk about it and her voice was pleasant so I let her rant, while I followed along silently. She stared at me now, her large grey eyes, were big and happy. She loved questing, because it reminded her of "the old days". "Good to see you," I coughed and then looked up to see Percy smiling down on us warmly, his hands in his pockets. "What are you doing out here all alone?" Asked Annabeth. "Just chillin'," I replied, leaving out the part about Hermes' visit. "The other's should be here by tomorrow, except Hazel and Frank who are at Camp Jupiter. Jason and Thalia, are in Ohio at the moment, hunting under Zeus' commands, will be here by sunrise. Leo and Piper are already here at camp, and Clarisse was on the plane here when I called," explained Percy. "We plan on meeting Hazel and Frank at Camp Jupiter near the end of the quest," added Annabeth. The rest of that night is a blur, we played wave tag, but Percy had an unfair advantage because he could control the tides, and he slammed me with one. I don't think I've ever been so glad to be pummeled with water. Annabeth dragged me out of the ocean cursing (and laughing) at Percy. When we were finally exhausted we lay down on the cool sand and watched the sun's final rays disappear over the horizon. When we heard angry screeching in the distance we quickly pulled our shoes on, and raced back to our cabins in order to avoid a few angry harpies. Curfew had come a bit earlier that we expected. Annabeth said goodnight and hugged Percy, care fully sneaking into her cabin. Percy walked me back to mine, for a few minutes we stood looking around, breathing in the cool dusk air. "So… the underworld, again," he sighed. "Yeah," I replied quietly, "must seem like a breeze to you, since you've been there so many times before." "Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds, the first time is always the worst." "I know," I muttered to myself. Percy stared at me, question in his eyes, "Have you been there before?" "Twice, once during the first game of Capture the Flag and I visit Nico there a month or two ago. But it's different now, I've got a target on my back. I'm now the prey and that scares me." He put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a consoling smile. "And Nico, both times he was there to help me and be my guide," I stuttered. "Maybe he'll be our guide again," suggested Percy. "No, Percy I think he's trapped, imprisoned," I said, recalling my dream. "By who?" "I-I don't know, but he was definitely in the underworld, I think he's apart of this," I explained. Percy furrowed his brows and said, "Well, we'll see in the morning, maybe the other guys know more about it." I hugged him and went into my cabin. I changed into my pajamas and set out tomorrow's outfit and packed my bags. I had only just arrived back at Camp but now I was leaving again. I didn't mind at all. I was scared, but I was excited, I was so ready to do what I was best at. I flopped onto my bed and let sleep take me, and I didn't dream. I was left to my own devices, so I sat in a forest and watched birds flit past. Anticipation and excitement finally woke me at the break of dawn. Sunlight peeked through my shutters and everything was silent. I laced up my converse and zipped up my hoodie. The silence was broken by the roar of an explosion. A close explosion. I threw my bag over my shoulder and raced out my screen door. In the middle of the field a crater the size of a dinner table smoldered. It looked like a meteor had touched down. I ran up to see what it was, Leo sat in the middle of the crater rubbing his head. "Dude, rough landing," he muttered. "What happened?" I shrieked half-amused, half-scornful. "Working on using my fire powers as rocket boosters," he replied looking up at me, squinting as if he couldn't make out my face, "Everything's so blurry," he said. "Are you ready for the quest?" I asked. "Always ready," he replied, gesturing to his tool belt. Just then something landed softly behind me, I turned to see Jason standing behind me casually his hands in his pockets. "Hey Lea," he said. "Jay!" I cried, "I haven't seen you since Cleveland!" I hugged him and he lifted us off the ground a little. He let me down, and we caught up quickly, his job as praetor was running smooth besides the daily objections from a sniveling boy named Octavian. Over the crest of the hill five figures emerged, their silhouettes black against the bright horizon. One of them raced forward and hug-tackled Jason, clearly she was his girlfriend, Piper. She was pretty, with perfect milk-chocolate skin, and choppy cut hair. She seemed like the type of girl I'd get along with easily. She saw me and smiled, "Hey, I'm Piper, you must be Lea, I've heard so much about you." "Same to you," I replied and she shook my hand vigorously. The other people walked up all holding duffel bags. Percy and Annabeth stood next to each other, Percy's arm over Annabeth's shoulder. Thalia, saw me and grinned, we hugged without saying a word, she smelled like winter-mint gum. "Hey girl," she said. "Hey," I replied casually, grinning uncontrollably, the little reunion making me bubbly with joy. The last girl I didn't recognize, she was tall with stringy brunette hair, pulled back in a red bandana. I could tell from her muscles and sneer she was Clarisse, the child of Ares. "Whatcha looking at Punk?" she spat at me, noticing me staring. "Nothing," I replied quickly, my hatred for her already developing. "We're leaving in five minutes," said Percy, cutting in. Piper, Thalia, Annabeth, and Clarisse all left, leaving me to hang with the guys, who had already brought there bags. Well, except for Leo, who didn't think he needed one. I didn't believe him at first, but then he pulled an extra shirt out of a two inch pocket and I realized the belt was magical. Jason and Percy chatted about being Praetor and Leo cut in with jokes every few minutes. He mentioned blowing up the Dining Hall a lot. I stood quietly, content with listening. Percy put his arm around me and squeezed me to his side as he bragged about how great I'm going to be at leading this quest. Jason and Leo grinned at me hopefully, in agreement with Percy. The girls emerged back over the hill, all carrying their bags. Clarisse was black with deep scarlet blood splatter pattern, which only made me more wary of her, I pressed closer against Percy's side. "To the van?" asked Annabeth, looking to me for an answer. "To the van," I agreed, my voice stopping short, it felt so wrong, being the one giving commands. "Let's do this!" said Leo, enthusiastically, rocketing off haphazardly. He crashed into the ground tumbling forward and jumping back up. "Walking it is," He said and continued forward seemingly unfazed. His optimism spread to me and I actually felt reassured that this quest was going to be a disaster, at least not right away. Boy was I wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

The car ride was crowded and noisy as we zoomed down the small winding road through the forest, farther and farther away from Camp and safety. Percy drove, with Annabeth in the passenger seat, Clarisse, Thalia and Leo, sat in the middle seats, whilst, Piper, Jason and Myself were crammed in the back. They chatted happily, as if we weren't driving towards what seemed like out inevitable doom and Percy cranked up the radio every time the noise sank below a roar. Every few minutes Percy would announce something for the whole car to hear, and Clarisse would reply with "Nobody cares, dweeb." So far, the dynamics of our group were extremely chaotic. I watched as trees whizzed past, soon the scenery faded into suburbs, then city. We had reached NYC, Percy pulled over and we filed out to stretch our legs. I was popping the kinks out of my back when I suddenly felt the urge to start walking down the street. Something was drawing me to a store down the street. While everyone was bust conversing I slipped out of view and strutted quickly down the street. There was a small antique's shop, I stopped to look inside it's large glass windows, a gleaming silver platter reflected back at me, except the reflection was not my own. "Zeus?" I questioned, appalled. Stepping back, I ran into a few pedestrians who grumbled angrily but continued on there way. Zeus's electric glare stayed on me, his gray beard appeared whiter than normal and his wrinkles were more pronounced, he looked tired. "Lea," he said assertively, "I know you have places to go, but first I need a small favor. You see, I had Hephaestus make me a container, a quiver, of sorts, to holt my master bolt in, some of my attendants were on there way to delivering to me, when they were intercepted. I need you to go and retrieve it, before they figure out it's use and destroy it or use it to their own advantage." "Where is it?" I asked. A few passerby's looked at me weird, to them I was talking to a dinner plate. "The Statue of Liberty, of few monsters have a hide-out there, they keep it up in the torch, you'll have to slip past both the monsters and mortal guards and up the service ladder, if you can do this I will reward you greatly with what you need." "What do I need?" I asked. "Information," he responded. I was about to object and ask further what he meant, but a flash of light hit the platter and his reflection disappeared, leaving me to stare at my own dumbfounded face. Somebody grabbed my arm, I was about to throw a punch, when Percy said, "Lea, oh gods you scared us, why did you wander off?" I explained to him and he agreed that we needed the reward, "We don't know anything really about our quest, maybe he knows why we need to go to the underworld in the first place." He and I headed back to the others, where they all nodded in agreement to Percy's proposal, the car ride was silent, we all knew a fight was coming. Annabeth began to think out loud, listing off battle strategies and telling us facts about the way the Statue was built, so that we would know how to navigate it. It sounded pretty simple, the metal frame work surrounded a small spiral staircase up into a small observation room. When we reached the ferry, the skies had turned a turbulent swirl of gray around the Empire State Building, which was visible in the distance. Leo was trying to make me laugh, but my mind was elsewhere, he gave up after a few minutes and began twirling a piece of wire in his fingers. We loaded out of the car, within seconds Percy began to shift uncomfortably on his feet, he shuddered, "Definitely monsters here." "How do you know?" I asked. "Just a feeling I get," he replied, I could see he had Riptide clutched in his fist. We were all a bit jumpy, this would be the first monster I'd fought in a long time, and with all of our demigod stench I'm sure we could round up an army of baddies in no time. Annabeth was mapping out a plan with a small pamphlet she had found on a park bench. We decided that Annabeth, Thalia and Clarisse would stay by the entrance to stop anything from following Percy, Piper, Jason, Leo and I. I also remembered Thalia's fear of heights, and looking up at the Statue in the distance, I started to feel a bit queasy myself. We boarded the ferry trying to look as innocent as possible whilst secretly concealing magical weapons. It was hardest for Clarisse who had to carry a compact electric spear. Annabeth and Piper, on the other hand had to strap knives to their calves to go unnoticed. I became very thankful for my necklace seeing them go through security. The Statue above us loomed, Lady Liberty's face glaring apathetically into the distance. We were on small island, perfectly trimmed lawns, and cement pathways covered the entirety of it. Not many tourists were here, thank the gods, since it was a Thursday. We stopped to regroup at a large open circular plaza. I started to notice some tourists giving me strange looks. But not the "Who are they?" looks instead they were glaring, as if they knew who I was and they hated me. I started to notice that feeling Percy was talking about, like we'd just walked into a nest. Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder, scaring me out of my daze. "The door is right there, we'll patrol and no one suspicious will follow you in, but once your in there we won't come after you. Don't worry there's enough of you to each watch each other's backs, Percy keep an eye on Lea, Lea watch out for Jason, Jason-Piper, Piper-Leo, Leo-Percy. You guys good?" We all nodded, and I led the way through the dark glass doors. In the building it was dark and dismal gray, it smelled like cleaning supplies, and fresh floor wax. Leo shuddering, "It's feels…historical in here. I hate historical." Piper rolled her eyes, and we checked our surroundings and headed up the stairs. We spiraled up and up, undisturbed, the metal frame work surrounding us, I began to feel very claustrophobic. The guy in front of me, a decent looking sixteen year old, with jet black hair, stopped suddenly. I was about to ask him if he was alright but then he turned around to face me. I instantly reached up to my necklace, but he was quicker, he reached out and snatched the gold disk, snapping the chain, and dropped it over the railing. I watched in silence, as it fell, clattering to the floor, at least a hundred feet below, a small shattering noise notified me, at least on of the gemstones was broken. I gasped, choking for air, shock welling in my throat. The boy smirked his eyes flashed, they were electric blue, and not like Thalia's. They looked unnatural, glowing almost. I had absolutely no idea what to do, I was weaponless, my forks were in the car, and my sword was on the floor, possibly broken. I stood motionless, the boy was about to say something, he leaned close to my face. I could feel his ice cold breath on my cheek. Suddenly a fist collided with his nose, causing it to concave. He didn't seem very phased by the fact that his nose was now a crater, instead he glared angrily at Jason, who was standing behind me, his golden sword drawn. The boy opened his mouth, instead of words, a shriek came from his mouth, like that of a hawk and his body transformed into a human-like figure, swirling mist crackling with electricity making up his being. "Venti," muttered Jason angrily, "I've dealt with your kind before." The Venti cackled inhumanly, "You think you are strong." "We are," I managed to say in my proudest voice. He whipped his head back to glaring at me. "Hey!" called a voice from behind us, "What's the hold up?" "Lea, go!" said Jason. I took the brief distraction to dart forward, avoiding making contact with the electric creature. I was so glad I had kept up on my cardio recently, because those stairs were killer. I could hear shouts from behind me, and I felt pursuers on my back, it wouldn't be easy to out run wind creatures. I shoved past angry tourists, they shouted at me to slow down and watch where I was going. I felt bad for cutting, but that guilt multiplied by hundreds when I heard screaming then silence, I had put those innocent people in the path of monsters. I had finally reached the observation deck, it was a tiny room with slanted windows showing the outside, metal grates over them, the only way out now was back the way I'd come or down the stairs ahead. I stopped to catch my breath, I thought I was safe, at least for a little while. Jason, Piper, Percy and Leo could probably hold them off for a while. As I stood my hands on my knees breathing deeply, I began to notice how everyone was staring at me and everyone had blue eyes. Electric blue eyes. I shrieked, the noise was strangled by my own breathlessness. Then I spotted it, the exact thing I needed, a locked door, my money was on the fact that there was a service ladder behind it. The blue eyed people began to close in, there were no real tourists there. Sometimes mortals are tricked into staying out of divine business. In this instance they knew, without knowing, to stay out. I backed up to the service door, with a quick turn, I kicked the door, the handle broke off and I rammed through. I hastily shut the door behind me, and analyzed my situation the monster banged at the door trying to ram there was through the steel, for a second I thought I was safe that maybe they couldn't get through. Then everything went silent, underneath the door, mist began to seep through the cracks . I turned climbing as quickly as I could up the tiny ladder. There was a small hatch at the top, I could hear the Venti shrieking and chattering below me, I punched open the hatch with my bare fist, which ended up throbbing like crazy. I jumped up and closed the hatch behind me. I was on the torch and I was not alone. In the small circular ring stood three other people, Venti inevitably, for a minute they stated a me confused. They obviously didn't think that they'd have guest. We all stood motionless for a minute, then we all heard the chattering from below and they snapped into action. One glanced to the side, I followed his gaze to a small leather bag of sorts in looked like an ancient scroll carrier. I tried to grab it, but the closest one got there before me, he took it and rocketed into the sky. The other two transformed into their spirit selves and began to swirl around me. My feet whipped out from underneath me and I began to be lifted into the air, tumbling over my self in the mini tornado of wind, my hair flying around like crazy. Then the launched me, flying out into the sky, I didn't go very far, but still there was nothing underneath me but air. For a few seconds everything slowed down, I saw the two storm spirits fly away, and I noticed something whip past me, the first on, he'd flown the wrong direction and now he was going to catch up with his buddies. My arm instinctively shot out and I gripped onto the leather carrying case. I was pulled rapidly through the air, I wrestled, with him for the bag. He gave me one last look and tried to grab for my hair, I punch him square in the face. For a second he looked dazed and he body turned completely into mist, the satchel slipped through his body and I began to fall again. I was right next to the State I tried to grab for something, my grasp catching on her dress I hung for a minute, but my strength failed. I let go and I shot downward, half-sliding, half-falling. I tried to get a new hold on the statue, the slick surface making my fingers fumble across the folds of the limestone fabric. I was only about a hundred feet from the ground when, everything around me began to slow again, the ADHD in my head causing the world to seep into the same slow-motion it always does when I'm in danger. I looked at the leather satchel, I didn't think there would be anything in it to help me, because it was empty. But then a flash a bronze shone from the side, a small knife was strapped to the side, and as I fell I grabbed it and stabbed to my side. The unimaginably strong metal sank into the limestone and the world flying past me was yanked to a stop. My arm was almost pulled out of it's socked, but I hung pretty much unscathed, a hundred feet from the ground. I panted, thinking of what to do next, there was no good option. I could either fall, and land on cement or stay here until my arm failed. I looked at the ground, people moving around like tiny figurines, no one noticed me, the mist must have been pretty thick around here. I scanned the crowd for bright orange and my eyes met a match, I could see two people in neon orange shirts near the entrance and another in silver. I watched them for a minute, then more people busted through the door, three more orange shirts and Jason in purple. I could see that Annabeth was the first to spot me. Within seconds Jason was flying up to me, "You want down?" he asked playfully. "Nah, I think I'll just hang up here," I said sarcastically. He held me in his arms and lowered us to the ground. We walked up to the group proudly, "Got it," I said, holding up the satchel. "Sweet," said Leo. "Are you okay," asked Thalia. "Aside from almost falling to my death, I'm good. Jason, how fast can you get this to Zeus?" "Give me five minutes," he said, and I handed it to him. He flew off towards the Empire State building and just like he promised he was back in no time. "The attendant said Zeus would be visiting us with our information soon," he said, upon landing. "Let's hope he keeps that promise," said Piper. "Oh Lea," said Percy, he stepped up to me, and held out his hand. In his palm was my necklace, dented, one of the small jewels shattered and the chain completely broken. I held it in my hand, gently, I pressed the center jewel, in turned into sword form, the blade was a bit warped, and one of the stones was till broken, but other than that it looked fine. "Can you fix it?" I asked, looking at Leo. He looked sad, "I can get the dent out, but the chain and jewel are beyond fixing." "Okay, thanks," I turned it back into mist form, and stuck it in my back pocket with my shield trinket, "We better get going." And with that, we set off, our journey already painful even though it had only just begun.


	6. Chapter 6

We all loaded back into the van hastily, I had to dive roll into the back seat, accidentally kicking Jason in the face, although he didn't seem to notice or care. Percy drove us down the unfamiliar busy streets of New York and I watched as people passed by, even though I was beat up and most of my stuff was broken I felt better, like I finally belonged. Eventually Percy pulled up and parallel parked (with a lot of instruction from Annabeth) next to a small field lined with neatly planted trees. We all scrambled back out of the van, packing up our weapons and slinging our bags over our shoulders. I breathed deeply, we were about to enter the underworld, my brain was racing fast in anticipation. To be honest, I wasn't ready. Percy led the way to a small clearing, there was a large lump of rocks at the far end of the clearing. It didn't look like anything special, just a few hunks of granite jutting up from the ground. The clearing had a strange vibe about it though, like the chill you get when your inside a cave, it smelled of decomposing leaves, wet rock and a scent that made me shiver with remembrance, death. A cool mist hung over the grass, and I felt a familiar presence, Nico had been here recently. Percy looked at time pitifully, he felt it too. He sighed, then put on a smile, "Okay now we need some music." Everyone looked at each other desperately. Leo piped up, "I can do one man acapella whilst doing the Macarena." He then went into a fit of random body spazzes and doing what sounded like juke-boxing. Piper laughed and replied, "I don't think that's considered music, in any way." Leo stopped abruptly looking put-down. "Lea can sing," suggested Percy brightly. A sudden wave of embarrassment washed over me like a tsunami., everyone turned to look at me. I tried to reply with no, but all that came out was a stifled squeak. Luckily Thalia came to my rescue, "wait, guys, I think I have something." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a silver Ipod, she unplugged the silver Skullcandy headphones and blasted MCR through the tiny speakers. It sounded horrible, the speaker quality shredding the music, but it worked anyways, the there was a deep rumbling and a tiny crack appeared in the rock. I stepped forward trying to look into the darkness. Before I could react, creatures began spilling out of the hole, what followed them was much worse. Out of the chasm flew a chariot made of metal so rusty I couldn't tell what it used to be, and covered in barbed wire, being pulled by two huge creatures, which was kind of odd since they were slightly humanoid things. Riding the chariot was the scariest woman I have ever seen. She was bone thin, every veins bulging and exposed, with patchy, balding, shaggy black hair and eyes like a feral dog. A trail of drool poured from the corner of her mouth, intermixed with blood. "I am Palioxis. Now, Run!" She yelled with such intense force, my body shivered uncontrollably, and I had to fight every instinct to obey her command. But I held my ground, shaking. I watched as my friends backed up, resisting the ever growing urge to flee. The tiny creatures took this opportunity to strike. I punched and threw the tiny little beings off me, but I kept my eyes on the door, and I watched in horror as the last of the hundred creatures ran out, the rocks crashed in on each other and then sank below the earth. "Keres!" shouted Percy. "They're only babies but don't let them scratch you." Great timing. At that second on of the little daemons sank it's claws into my shoulder and tore into my forearm, sliding down. Four red streaks all the way to my inner arm. I screamed in agony. That arm had already been through so much today. White hot rage, mixed with the pain and I felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through my veins. "Drop dead!" I shrieked. Whacking one away with the side of my wrist. Another jumped up and bit me on the back of my neck like a mini-vampire. I grabbed it by it's wing and slammed it as hard as I could onto the ground, it exploded into dust on contact. My friends weren't doing much better than I, Thalia picked on the fleeing ones with her bow, Percy and Jason hacked away with their swords whilst, Annabeth and Piper sliced with their knives. Clarisse was stabbing with her spear and Leo was no where to be found, so I was sword-less at the moment. My armor was in my bag which was sitting about ten feet away. I tried to get to it but as I knocked away creatures, more piled on. I could feel the venom seeping into my circulatory system as they clawed and bit me. I just hoped to the gods, that it wasn't like rattlesnakes when it came to the baby's being more venomous. Everything began to blur and and my legs went numb, I stumbled to my knees, more creatures latched on, tearing open my skin. The woman laughed as she watched me struggle. With one final breath I yelled as loud as I could, "Get off!" A surge of power exploded out from my chest, and a circle of bright pink light flared out around me, a foot in circumferences then expanding fathers around me. My hair whipped around as if there was a hurricane torrent swirling around me, my hair band broke and I could feel my powers take over. I could tell my eyes were glowing by the pink rim of light around my vision. I suddenly felt stronger, re-energized. All of the Keres within ten feet of me fell to the ground, sound asleep. The pink glow faded, and I reverted back to normal. I took on look at myself, my clothes were ripped and bloody, a black liquid oozed from some of the bites. I unclenched my fists, stretching my fingers, and then fell, the power too much for my body to take. I crumpled to the ground, closing my eyes hoping to soothe the ache that tore through my temples. I bony finger stroked under my chin, making me look up. Palioxis, had dismounted her chariot and was now focusing on me. She chose me either as her target because I was the weakest link or because I was supposed to be the leader. "I am the goddess of backrush, fleeing from the site of battle, now do as I say just like your friends and flee!" she growled. I glanced quickly to see all of my friends gone, dispersed. Palioxis clutched my neck, cutting off my breath, choking me and lifting me to my feet. She snarled, showing pointed teeth, and then threw me. I crashed through the trees, she had to be a goddess because I flew at least 300 feet, straight into a pond. Naiads and frogs scrambled to get out of my way as I crashed into the green water. I inhaled the slimy algae, continually choking. When I broke the surface, I gasped frantically for oxygen. Standing unscathed a the edge of the pond, was Palioxis, she laughed manically. "Run, little warrior, run from all that scares you." I mustered up the strength, courage, and breath to say what I did next, "No." That probably wasn't the best choice of words when talking to a battle goddess. "NO! What do you mean 'no'? You have no weapons, you are defenseless, you're friends are gone, you're dead." "Not quite," said a voice from behind me. Percy stood tall and proud, his face defiant, as usual. The water around me started to swirl, gurgling to life. "Now it's your turn to flee," said Percy. Palioxis, flinched, she tried to smile but instead her face only twitched, a deep growling sound emitted from her, growing from her gut. She looked rabid, possessed by hatred. She wasn't willing to go up against both Percy and I especially when he was in his element and when I was mad. "I will be back, I will plague you throughout your journey unceasingly." "I'd like to see you try!" She whipped her glare to me, "You will drown." With a swirl of black mist she disappeared. Percy splashed into the pond, I coughed, trying to get the last of the water out but Percy used his powers and carefully drew the water out of my lungs, which I coughed back up into the pond. "We better not let any of the Keres find a water source or else New York will be tormented with plague," said Percy, kneeling in the murk next to me. "Okay," I agreed, trying to stand up. Instead I passed out, plunging back into the water. I awoke to a cool liquid being poured on my face. I opened my eyes, blinking drowsily. My hair and clothes were still damp and they clung to my body uncomfortably. Annabeth was rubbing some gold liquid into my badly scratched cheek, the pain subdued immediately. I tried to sit up but only blacked out and fell back again, luckily she caught me before I hit the ground. "Whoa there, slowly now," she said, helping me lean against a nearby tree. I nibbled on some ambrosia and analyzed my situation, the cut on my arm was the worst, I had multiple bites, one that pierced both sides of my right hand, which Percy was wrapping up with ambrosia soaked gauze at the moment. He looked at me, his sea green eye shining with worry, "You got it worst," he said, "We all got a bit scratched up, but without a weapon or armor, you didn't stand much of a chance. Luckily the poison isn't very strong, but were going to need a god's help to heal you completely. We killed most of the Keres. Clarisse, has decided to stay back here and hunt the last of them, as we continue our quest. We don't want any escaping into the city. Leo's setting up some traps right now." I sighed and I let myself sink farther down the trunk of the tree. "The door," I sighed. "Gone, we'll have to enter through L.A. This quest is going to be longer than we expected," confirmed Percy. I groaned miserably, "Disaster already." "Eh, buck up kid, nobody's died yet," he said with a slightly crooked grin. "Yet." I looked around the clearing, Jason was cleaning his sword and looking at me with pity, a heaviness weighing on his shoulders. Piper was wrapping up a cut on her leg and Thalia was plucking off a few stray Keres with her bow. Just then, there was a crack of lightning and everyone jumped. In the middle of the clearing, stood Zeus, in a black pin-stripe suit. He cleared his throat, event though all of us were already listening. "I'm here with the information I owe you. But first things first, I see you need further help," he opened his palm and a small white light floated up and then split into seven different pieces, one larger than the rest. The largest ball of light floated out and settled upon my chest absorbing into my body with a faint glow. I could feel the Keres' venom disappear from my veins. I sighed, the burning sensation finally gone. The others had also been healed of the poison. Zeus continued, As you suspected, the entrance here has been destroyed and you must now travel to Charon's Ferry. The underworld, unfortunately, has been overtaken, by whom, we do not know, so enter cautiously, the Keres were only the beginning. But not all being's down below are volatile, seek friends in the underworld and they will find you. And what ever you do, stay away from-" Another crack of lighting and he was suddenly gone, leaving us open mouthed and confused. "Well thanks for all the info!" shouted Thalia angrily, "just like him to leave us hanging." "Maybe, something more important came up," suggested Annabeth. Everyone nodded, hoping that he would return to finish his sentence soon. We waited in silence and I was left to my thoughts. I wondered, what could be so important that he would stop mid-sentence? Was there something wrong? I gazed up at the New York skyline, the Empire State building rose above all else. Thick purple storm clouds gathered around the building tip, and it frightened me, because that meant Zeus was preparing for a fight.


	7. Chapter 7

After a few minutes of regrouping, we walked back to the van. Percy stopped so abruptly at the sidewalk, I nearly ran into him. Luckily Jason was there to catch me before I tumbled to the cement. My legs were still weak and shaking from the fight. I was about to ask what was wrong when I saw it, the van in a state of disrepair. It was so rusted it looked as if it had been there since the 1800's. It was badly scratched, as if somebody has gouged it. The tires has been slashed and some of the seats were missing, the others shredded. Percy knelt and looked at the tires. "It's been ripped with barbed wire," he said, "Looks as if Palioxis took out her grudge on the car. So much for that. I'll message Chiron and tell him that we need a Camp Van #3." "I guess we'll need to take a bus, or a taxi. At least till we find a train station," added Annabeth. Almost as if on que, a large bus pulled up to the curb, at a bus stop only a few yards down the street. We all looked at the each other expectantly; to confirm that that was our next move, then sprinted to the open doors. The bus driver was large pig like man, sweat stains visible through his shirt and a hunched figure, his name tag read "JOE BOB" which I found to be an odd name. He smelt like burnt steak. When he looked up at Percy for payment, Percy shoved a fifty dollar bill into the driver's pudgy sausage-like fingers and said "Get us as far west as you can go." For a minute the driver looked shocked, but without saying anything he nodded, and sped off. The offer clearly good enough for him to break his routine. We all took a seat. Percy Annabeth and I shared a booth. Percy wanting to sit in the window seat and next to Annabeth, and Annabeth wanting to sit next to me, so that she could tend to my hand. There was about fifteen minutes of peace as we sped out of the city. Annabeth prodded at my wounds to my many objections, but she insisted that they needed to be redressed frequently. After a while I started to get a leery feeling, our bus driver hadn't said a word the entire time, and he was speeding through traffic like a manic. We were almost out of the city already. We were just coming upon Newark when something went wrong. We headed into a tunnel and everything went black for a minute. After we had emerged into the light and my eyes had adjust I saw him. The bus driver was standing up and facing us. The bus was still moving as if on autopilot. The driver said into his microphone, "Approaching Newark, next stop Hades." Then he began to transform, he straightened up, revealing himself to be eight feet tall. He skin was reddish brown like a bad sunburn, he had shaggy brown hair and tattoos all over his arms. He looked pretty normal, except for the fact that when he smiled it showed pointed teeth. As he grew his large shirt tore at the seems to accommodate his humongous body. On his bicep I could see a tattoo, faint and old, that said "JB loves Babycakes" and a more fresh one display him tearing into, throwing and killing in many other gruesome ways, a kid that looked way to much like Percy to be a coincidence. I looked over at Percy whose mouth hung open in awe. "Let me guess," I said, "You've killed this guy before." "Yeah," he replied still astounded. "Let's hope he isn't still holding a grudge." Joe Bob, grabbed one of the front seat and threw it in our direction. We ducked behind our row. "Well, it was worth suggesting." Joe Bob, roared. His anger resonating through the bus. The roar didn't seem to stop it just echoed. Or at least I thought it was echoing. I wish it was echoing. I turned to look out the window, in slow-motion, I watched through the glass. A red-brown blur came across the view. Then suddenly the glass shattered, pieces flying through the air slitting though my skin. My cheek now speckled with blood. Standing in front of me was another one. He had jumped through the window. Along with him, six more giants had joined the fight. Before I could really consider my next move, I ran up and kicked the giant facing me in the chest. He tumbled back out the window and exploded into dust on the highway. For a second I looked around the bus. Annabeth was rolling and jumping to doge one's desperate swings at her. She would be fine. Piper and Jason were slashing away at two in the very back. Leo was crouched behind one of the seats, fiddling with some metal on his lap, which was disappointing, but I'm sure he had something to rationalize his actions. Thalia was taunting one with her silver blade and Percy was taking on two in the front of the bus. I decided to help Percy, and repaying him for saving my sorry soul earlier. I was jumping over the seats, making my way to the front when I heard someone shout, "Lea!" I turned quickly to see a flash of metal coming in my direction. I reached out and caught it, which probably wasn't the best idea, but I did it anyways. I looked to see that in my palm I held a small golden disk, I flipped it over to see that it was my necklace. I pressed the jewel and my sword elongated from the little plate. The dent was gone from my sword, and it seemed as good as new, besides the shattered jewel. Leo had fixed it. I turned to him to say thank you, but I saw that he was a bit preoccupied trying to lure one of Piper and Jason's giants into a snare trap. I turned and sprinted up the aisle. On the way I rammed Thalia's opponent straight into her knife. He exploded into yellow dust with a howl. I ran and baseball slid past Annabeth, slashing at her giant's ankles as I went past. She finished him off with a stab to the gut. Percy wasn't doing well, it was apparent Joe Bob and the other giant had a bone to pick with Percy, like most monsters did. Unfortunately, my arrival instead of helping Percy, distracted him. In the second that he turned to look at me he was swept off his feet by Joe Bob, who hung Percy upside down by his ankle. In retrospect I was probably hysterical by this time, the adrenaline mixing with all of the other chemicals in my head trying to subdue the pain and keep me alive. So my next move was completely insane. I ran, jumped on one of the booths, and launched off of there straight onto Joe Bob. I cut him in half diagonally. He roared in pain and confusion, dropping Percy. "I will get my revenge, just as promised," he yelled, then exploded into dust. His friend, looked shocked for a minute then charged at me, trampling Percy. I scrambled out of the way, and the giant skidded past. When he fell forwards I kicked him straight into the stick-shift. His back hit it with a sickening crack. Suddenly the bus was thrown to the right, him hitting it must have turned off the auto-pilot. The bus veered crazily as we sped down the highway, nearly missing cars with angry commuters. Percy jumped into the driver's seat trying to steady the bus. I figured he had it under control. So I put my focus back on the fight. Then I did the craziest thing yet. I marched up to him and head-butted him. I had learned from the first time with Mlyssa that you aim for the bridge of the nose. As my forehead collided with his face he exploded instantaneously. The yellow, sulfur smelling dust, coated my body, and I sneezed out some of it through my nose. It was disgusting. I turned slowly, slightly disoriented to see, Piper stab the last giant, which was hanging by his ankle from Leo's snare, with her triangular knife. The adrenaline instantly disappeared with the threat, and for the third time I passed out. This time straight onto my face. So much for a graceful victor. When I awoke, it was night, and I was lying on one of the benches. My head resting in Leo's lap. He grinned and said "Nice face plant you did there, I'd give it an eight maybe and eight-point five." I tried to laugh but it hurt too much so I just kind of snorted. He helped me sit up. I looked around the bus. Piper and Jason were curled up in the back, asleep. Thalia was cleaning her bow a few rows down. Percy was driving the bus and Annabeth was sitting in the row across from him. Everything seemed okay, for the first time today. We all seemed to have found our place. Sitting next to Leo I didn't really feel like the seventh wheel anymore. Maybe because both of us were so used to being the outsiders. He didn't really have to tell me how he felt, I just kind of knew by the sad look in his eyes when he saw Piper and Jason. It was the same way I felt when I saw Percy and Annabeth, I wanted a relationship like that. I leaned against Leo, melting into his side. "Um," he said, as if he was trying to start a conversation. "Hmm?" I asked. "I made you this," he replied pulling a small golden ring out of his tool belt, "Since yours seems to keep breaking." He set it in my palm. It was a small golden hair-band woven from tiny threads of metal. It was stretchy but virtually indestructible. I looked up at him. His face was kind and hopeful, the youth of his smile but the wisdom from the many gruesome trials of his life evident in his eyes. There was a small flames flickering on a strand of hair just above his slightly pointed ear. I reached up and snuffed it out with my fingers then said, "Thanks, it's perfect." I put my hair up into my signature ponytail and curled up next to him. "Oh and one more thing," he said, he held the golden disk of my sword in his hand and the miniaturized shield in the other, " I found this out," he snapped the sword disk into the front of the shield. It fit perfectly as if they were made for each other. "That's awesome," I replied, "But wasn't my shield in my pocket?" "Umm," he replied, looking out the window. "My back pocket?" I prompted. "Yeah," he agreed, still avoiding eye contact and containing a smile. I punched him on the shoulder but still stayed leaning against his side. I closed my eyes. As I drifted out of consciousness, the last thing I remember hearing was Leo mutter, "Why is it always the shoulder?"


	8. Chapter 8

I woke to the bright raw light coming in through the bus' uncovered windows. It looked to be about midday, and we were still speeding along the highway. Shielding my eyes, I looked to the row across me, Percy sat peacefully, Annabeth resting her head on his shoulder. In a moment of panic, I jumped up. Who was driving the bus? But then I saw Jason up front with Piper, they we chatting happily as they navigated the highway. Piper was trying to decipher the humungous map, with the help of Thalia. Leo was in the back messing with the air-conditioning unit, which clearly wasn't working because the bus was at least eighty degrees and humid. Percy looked over at me and smiled a "Good morning". I returned the smile then went to fiddling with the small golden disk that was clenched in my fist. I don't know how I didn't realize it earlier, they were like two components of one device. The sword piece clicked in and out easily, nesting in the ridge of the shield piece. I stuck the little device back into my pocket. Percy got up and sat down next to me, he handed me a granola bar, which I ravenously devoured. He pushed my bangs out of my eyes, and said "How'd you sleep?" "Surprisingly well, especially for someone that was unconscious for half the day," I replied sarcastically cheerful. He laughed lightly, "We did have quite an exciting day yesterday, with Venti, Keres, Palioxis and Laestrygonians within eight hours. But we kind of did have in coming with so many powerful demigods together." "Laestrygonions? Is that what those things were?" I asked, "You met them before right?" Percy nodded, "Multiple times, the driver Joe Bob, attacked my seventh grade school with flaming dodgeballs." "Hah! I remember you telling me about that!" I replied, recalling the absurd story filled with fire, gym shorts and exploding locker rooms. He looked out the window his eyes filled with nostalgia for simpler times. "You must have really upset that one. He seemed pretty intent on tearing you limb from limb. Even had a tattoo for it." "Really?" asked Percy grinning, "I'm honored. All I did was kill him, but you know how monsters are." I giggled, the way Percy shrugged off death threats from eight foot tall cannibals was admirable, along with reckless. The air-conditioner clicked on in the back, and a sudden gust of freezing air blasted the back of my head making my ponytail whip around whapping Percy in the face. "Whoa, sorry guys, shouldn't have set it to high," said Leo, as he struggled to turn the adjustment knob. The gust died down, and Leo walked up to join us, his hair blown completely back. Piper and Thalia walked up to join the group. They set the map on the ground, flattening out the crinkles. Piper pointed to a thick black line, with the number 79, on it. "That's the Highway were on," she said, "We'll be out of Kentucky and into Missouri by the end of the day. Jason, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Leo and I are all going to take five hour driving shifts. Annabeth, you're up next then you Thalia. We'll stop for lunch in about an hour and a half once we find a restaurant." I looked over the map, it appeared as if we were coming up on two thick rivers and that we'd be going across a bridge soon, which made me wary. I don't like bridges, they make me feel stranded. We rode down the highway in silence for a little while longer. Percy and I made a fort out of bed-rolls in the back, which was quite comfy. I watched out of the window as landscape tore past, as we cross the bridge, I could see nereids jump out of the water, waving at us. Percy smiled and waved back, I just sat and watched as they rocketed through the waters, spiraling like ballerinas. I longed to be as graceful as them, not the girl who passes out after ever battle. Percy must have picked up on my thoughts, because he rested his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "You're doing great so far. It's not easy to keep so many people safe, especially us," he said softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just feel weird being in charge of people who are older than me. All of you are at least a year older than me and Thalia looks like she's sixteen but I can tell she's not." "Yeah, we still haven't really determined what age she is. I'm not sure if she even knows." I frowned, that would be so odd, not even knowing your own age. Life gets pretty screwed up when you're a demigod. "You're turning fifteen, soon, right?" asked Percy, inquisitively. "At the end of the month," I replied, "Although I was immortal for six months so I'm not sure." "Wow, that's so weird," he said, "I've always thought of us as being the same age, I can't believe were more than three years apart." We both sat and thought about it for a while. I always felt like Percy was older than me, he was like my mentor, what Chiron was to him. It was weird that he thought of me as his equal. Hearing that made me feel a little bit honored. We sped down the highway, without a disturbance for the next hour, then pulled up to a small diner. It must have looked kind of weird, seven kids loading out of a New York City bus. We all order cheeseburgers and paid with cash. It was good to finally get a full meal. Percy devoured the fries within seconds and Leo got so excited his burger spontaneously caught fire, scorching it, much to our waitresses horror and confusion. She apologized profusely, saying that the burgers had never caught on fire like that before. She got him a new one with extra bacon, which he gave to me. Our meal was peaceful and delicious, Jason and Piper went to go find a gas station, Thalia went to go order some food for us to take with us and Percy and Annabeth debated on how much we should tip. Percy wanted to give our waitress extra because of the near heart-attack Leo gave her, but Annabeth wanted to save as much money as possible. The small Mel's-Like diner was pretty much empty except an old man sitting at the counter drinking coffee and reading the paper. Leo was explaining to me how he could balance the salt shaker on it's side by pouring a small amount of salt on the table and propping it up when the bells on the door chimed noisily. I turned around hoping to see that Piper and Jason had returned but instead I saw an unexpected familiar face. "Eros," I muttered. His beautiful face turned, to look directly and he smiled brightly. My heart fluttered uncontrollably. I bit my lip trying to stop myself from hyperventilating. Now that I was back to being mortal his affect on my emotions was uncontrollable. Eros walked up to me, now that his legs were blocked by the booth in front of me I could see that he had something knew with him. On a leash was a seeing eye dog. It was a small brown greyhound, its small sleek body was beautiful but it looked very upset to be in a harness. As he walked past one of the waitresses fainted and the other one standing next to her was too busy checking Eros out to catch her friend. Eros laughed, his beautiful light chuckle that made him so dreamy and the waitress swooned. He walked up to our table and said "Hey guys." "Hey, Eros," I squeaked, glancing at him, then at Annabeth who seemed to be just as taken as I was. Eros slid into the both next to me, squishing Leo against the window, much to Leo's silent objection. "My," said Eros, "you got a little scratched up didn't you?" he reached forward and stroked my cheek, as he did I could feel the tiny cuts close, "That's better." Behind me, Leo scoffed, but I didn't turn to see his facial expression, I was too transfixed on Eros. "So, I've got a little quest for you and your friends," began Eros. "Great, just what we need," said Leo. Eros pursed his lips testily, but continued to ignore Leo. "You see this dog I have here, this is Laelaps, the hound destined to catch it's prey, no matter what. Unfortunately, you have been assigned to catch the Teusmissian fox." "Unfortunately?" I asked. "It's a paradox," explained Annabeth, "The Teusmissian fox has been destined to never be caught. Didn't Zeus turn them into a constellation?" "Well, you see, whenever Western civilization changes, everything resets, everything that is, except the titans." "But I don't have time to catch a fox, let alone one that can't be caught. I have to go save Nico," I pleaded to Eros. "You mean 'take back the underworld'," he said, then winked playfully. "Yeah, yeah that's what I meant. Priorities," I sputtered quickly, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, not my orders I'm just the messenger." "Why did Hermes tell us, he's the messenger god, after all," asked Percy. "I volunteered," he said grinning at me, "I wanted to check up on you guys," he said, although I got the wonderful feeling he was only talking to me. At that moment Jason and Piper walked in. Jason drew his sword, wary of the stranger, but then put it away as soon as he saw who it was. Eros and Piper seemed very uncomfortable upon seeing each other, perhaps because they were step-brother and sister. "I must go," said Eros. I was about to object and asked him to stay, but then realized how desperate that sounded and kept my mouth shut. There was a small flare of white light and suddenly he was gone, Laelap's leash fell and clacked against the tile floor. Piper picked it up, Laelaps looked up at her expectantly with eyes almost too expressive. I could tell he was old and tired of his job, the endless chasing and never catching. "We can't all go hunting," said Annabeth, "I guess we'll have to split up." "We'll go," said Piper and Jason in unison. Thalia walked through the door then, in her arms she held a large bag of Panda Express take out. "What did I miss?" she asked. "Eros," I replied. "Really? Again. Dam," she said, "Whose dog?" "That's Laelaps, Jason and Piper are going to go hunt he Tuemissian fox," explained Annabeth. "I'll go with them," said Thalia, "I'm the most experienced hunter out of all of us." "But," protested Annabeth. She didn't continue her argument, silently agreeing that it was best that Thalia accompany Piper and Jason. It was decided that Piper would "ask" for a car at the nearby dealership and they would follow Laelaps to find the fox. We all took a few minutes to hug and say goodbye. I mostly stood and watched. I hadn't fully registered, in my head, how close all of these people were, but watching them say goodbye reminded me how new I was to the group. I longed for that kind of dependence. To feel like I had a place. Leo came over and put his arm around my shoulder, "So, where to next?"


	9. Chapter 9

We traveled without disturbance for the next twelve hours and the silence was beginning to get on my nerves. I spent all of the time being taught battle plans and formations from Annabeth, she displayed them to me on her extremely high tech laptop, projecting holographic 3D battlefield models in the dim light. Percy and I spent a lot of time in the bedroll fort talking about past adventures and laughing at all of the crazy mishaps. Every once and a while he'd get this distant look in his eyes and I knew to let him be for a minute. Some of his battle scars were a bit too deep. He would always mention Tuataras, but whenever he did, he wasn't willing to explain any further. At one point Bohemian Rhapsody came on the radio, and of course we all sang along, horribly, that is. None of us were "The Voice" material, but it was fun anyways. I didn't talk to Leo much, he was always sitting with his feet up on the seat fiddling with some tiny bronze contraption. Whenever I walked up the aisle by him, to go visit with whoever was driving, he would look up and smile, but never say a word. Eventually after Leo had finished his driving shift, which was somewhat chaotic, I sat down next to him. I searched my subconscious for an icebreaker, the usual didn't really work. I was used to gods and I couldn't exactly ask Leo, "So, how long have you been immortal," or "What deity do you consider yourself to be a part of?" This desperate search for words led to a few minutes of awkward silence. Eventually I found words, "So, you're pretty close friends with Piper and Jason, right?" He looked up at me, graciously, "Yeah, we've been through a lot together, sometimes I can't remember what's real and what Hera implanted into my head, but ya know, good times anyways." I laughed cautiously. "But they're cool. It's great to seem them working it out, although I get left behind. You know what it's like, being the third wheel, or sometimes seventh wheel." I looked up, seeing Percy and Annabeth, pointing at the map chatting happily and smiling. It reminded me of the time I'd spent on Olympus with them; always standing behind or in front if the sidewalk was too small and having to wait to talk, so that I wouldn't interrupt. It was so nice seeing them together, I loved how happy they were, but there was still that dull pain of being one-step behind, always. "Yeah, I do," I said finally. I looked at the little bronze mechanism in his hand. It was a tiny little dragon, only about six inches long. It didn't have wings yet, but the bronze plating making up it's body, defined it. It had two curious little ruby eyes, that peered up at me, unblinking. Tiny wisps of smoke curled from it's nostrils. With a few clicks and whirs, it moved, slowly at first then with the speed and agility of a live creature. It scuttled from his palm, up his arm and perched on his shoulder. Then it sneezed, whipping it's head from side to side, making a small squeaking noise, and spraying a tiny amount of oil on Leo's camp shirt. It was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, except the fact that after it sneezed, it tensed up and died. Leo picked him up daintily, and began messing with the wires in the automaton's neck, "I'm still working out the kinks," said Leo, the dragon sprang back to life, cough up a small flame and then skittered noisily from Leo hand, and onto my knee, it stared up at me confused, I Almost expected it to say 'mama?'. "Lea," continued Leo, "Meet Festus Jr." "Pleased to meet Festus Jr." I said, my voice higher than usual, the abnormal mechanical cuteness getting to me. Festus Jr. yawned the curled up in the sunlight that was shine on my leg and feel asleep. "Awww, that is the cutest metallic dragon I've ever seen," I said. "I'm honored," joked Leo, "Because I'm sure you've seen lots of metallic dragons." "Peleus," I said. "True dat," said Leo, nodding. I sighed, happily, gazing out the window and stroking the tiny dragon. It's scales clinked together as I ran my forefinger down his back. After a while, it was Leo's turn to drive so I hung out with Percy and Annabeth, we brainstormed together. "Who do you think over took the underworld?" I asked. "They'd have to be pretty freakin powerful," said Percy. "The prophecy says 'promises, pain, forgetfulness and fire' so that leaves a lot of different godly options, but none of the ones I know who be will to team up with one another" "It also said 'a final quest to restore' and I don't like the ring to that," I said. "Maybe it just means this is the last official quest you'll go on, maybe it's the end of the Great Stirring," said Annabeth hopefully. We all knew that was a long shot. "Not to mention the entire beginning of the prophecy," I said. Annabeth bit her lip and nodded, "I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems, prophecy's always sound ominous." I recalled the old prophecy, Travel to the land where Apollo's ride ends- California Leave with two but arrive with one of your friends- Percy had to go help Annabeth Trust scales of blue- Mea But not eyes of gold- the angry possessed medieval guys To defeat the night And titan of old- Nyx If only things were that cut-and-dry now. Percy and I spent the next few hours challenging each other at Fruit Ninja on his itouch as Annabeth read. She would stop occasionally to critique our strategy, using a bunch of big words, but we didn't really listen. Percy and I were both convinced that randomly swishing our fingers back and forth was the best way to go about it, even though we hit a like a billion bombs. I was about to hit the high score when the bus swerved dramatically left, throwing me to the side causing me to cut through a bomb taking out my last life. "Noooooooo!" Percy and I both yelled at the screen. Leo screeched to a stop, pulling over to the side of the highway, "Holy Hephaestus, what happened?" "We should be asking you that!" I exclaimed. "Hit a small patch of ice," he explained. "Ice patch?" asked Annabeth, pulling her book off of her face and getting back into her seat from her tangled position on the floor, "It's mid-June, and were in Kansas." Leo furrowed his eyebrows, confused. Suddenly, the air grew cold, as if the air conditioner had just come back on. I turned and looked around, there was nothing there, no windows open and the air conditioner was completely off, yet it still felt like a winter gust was blowing through. I could see a lake off in the distance, Annabeth had said a name like "Watson" or something similar. I turned to Percy and said, "Get the freaking salt!" I was actually making a TV show reference, but in retrospect it would have been a good idea. "I don't like this," said Annabeth. She grabbed her knife and stood up walking up the aisle, "I'm going to go check it out." "We might as well come with," said Percy. We grabbed our weapons and bags (just in case) and filed out the little door. I'm glad we got out when we did. Something, like a white meteor hit the top of the bus, causing it to crumple in on itself. "Just when I was getting to like it," said Percy bitterly. Then, the meteor stood up. Her thick black hair whipped in the now strongly gusting wind. She wore a white kimono, and her eyes were the iciest blue I've ever seen. "Khione," growled Leo. "Now is the time for revenge, Leo Valdez," she yelled her voice like ice water on her skin, "We are both stronger." "And this time he has back up," I said. I didn't really know what happened the first time between these two, but I had a feeling it was pretty one-on-one. The hatred was evident in their eyes. I turned to Percy for some advice, but he looked just about as confused as me, Annabeth too. "I took you down once," taunted Leo, "I can do it again." I turned to look at him, expecting his face to be determined and feirce, but when I saw him I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming. He was completely ablaze. The flames licked at his entire body. He looked at me, "It's okay Lea, this is normal, somewhat." I nodded, but didn't say a word. "What's this?" crooned Khione, "the little loners not so alone any more, well I can fix that." A torrent of icy air lifted me off my feet wrapping around my body, strangling me in cold. I really wished I had worn more than a pair of jeans and a camp shirt. "Lea!" Called all three of my friends in unison. "Oooh," said Khione, "a popular one!" I rose ever higher over the road, I had to be a least sixty feet up. I could see the lake from my view, there was no one around for miles. This chick was seriously rude, not only because of the fact she threw of my Fruit Ninja game but because she was really enjoying watching me struggle in her whirlwind of snow. "Hey listen here, you little b-" I yelled but was cut off as she dropped me a few feet in freefall then caught me again. I should have kept my mouth shut. Of , course I didn't. I screamed and cursed at her, both in Latin and English. At one point I said something like, "Ego frui gustus vestro sanguine," which I think translates to "I hope the vultures like the taste of you," but I'm not sure. My Latin isn't very good, and I didn't know where the violence came from. My friends didn't know quite what to do, if they attacked her, she'd drop me and I'd end up a mark on the pavement, but they couldn't just stand there. Especially not with Leo so close to the grass, he was wild-fire hazard. Percy whistled, I didn't know why, but he probably had a reason. Either that or he could see up my shirt because of the wind. An image of a very angry Smokey the bear entered me head. I laughed involuntarily. "What is so funny?" Demanded Khione. I didn't know what to do, so I just improvised. "A kimono, seriously? Those are so forty centuries ago," I snarled. Doing my best impersonation of the Aphrodite cabin. "What do you mean?" she questioned, angrily. "I mean, like, get with the times, girl," I said, almost choking on my own words they were so unbelievably not-me. I have no knowledge of fashion, but I kept going, "What you really need is a new look, I mean, you're gorgeous, but you shouldn't cover yourself up like that. What you need is a makeover." I was beginning to resort to quoting well-known chick-flicks, hopefully she wouldn't catch on. "Yeah," I said, tumbling upside down in the whirlwind, but ignoring it, "we could get hair cuts, and go to the mall, you would look amazing in a crop top-with skinny jeans and a pair of Louis Vouitton boots." By this time I was just naming off whatever fashion terms, I knew, I nearly recommended cargo pants. "Louis Voutton, is a purse company!" Screeched Khione. "It sells shoes too. Right?" I asked desperately. She had caught me. "You were trying to trick me!" She screamed, he eyes ablaze, almost all white. "No!" I pleaded, "Well, yeah." Luckily I had bought the others some time. Leo had climbed up on the bus and was now quite close to the snow goddess. "Hey Khione," Called Leo. A flaming wrench twirled through the air, hitting her directly on her forehead. She screamed and dropped me. I heard a faint whistle, which at first I thought was the wind rushing by my ears, but then I collided with something, to close and soft the be the ground. I had landed sprawled and slightly off-kilter on a black Pegasus. He snorted loudly, clearly apposed to my harsh collision. He really shouldn't be complaining, I was the one who landed on my back. I looked over his wings to see Percy and Annabeth fighting with a few evil snowmen and Leo taking on Khione. I had to help him. "Take me down there," I said to the Pegasus, pointing to the top of the bus. He swooped low over the bus and I dive-rolled onto the slick white metal shell. Leo was blasting fire out of his hands, but Khione seemed unfazed. She simply made a thick shield of ice that hardly melted under his flames. I tried to sneak up on her from behind, but she had been expecting me. She whipped around, and a volley of ice shards flew directly at my face. I dodged them as best as I could but a few of the small ones pierced my skin. Then I heard Annabeth scream, one of the snowmen was engulfing her, only her face and shoulders were left, the Pegasus was having the same problem. He tried to kick at the then sheet of snow, but the more he struggled and whinnied, the more it grew. "Wait," yelled Leo, everything froze, figuratively. Khione turned to him glaring. "What?" she spat, "have you chosen to except your defeat?" "What are you even doing here?" asked Leo. "I'm here to exact my revenge," replied Khione, as if the answer should have been obvious, "just as I was promised." "Promised?" questioned Leo. "Yes, of course," she said, "Didn't you hear, you all have a high price on your head, and usual I wouldn't have taken the offer but it was revenge and a reward all wrapped in one. Everyone any of you has ever met, and should I say, 'upset' is now on your tail. This is the age of sacrifice." "Who promised you this?" asked Percy. She just smirked. "Now unless you have something you can give that's better than killing all of you, let's get back to it." "I do," said Leo. "What is that?" asked Khione. Leo looked at me sadly, the flames adorning him dying, " You said this is the age of sacrifice, then, I'll make you a deal, since it's me you want, you can have me as prisoner. You can escape unscathed, with the extremely valuable, son of Hephaestus, without risking losing the fight. But you have to promise to let my friends continue on their way." The entire time his eyes never left mine. "No, Leo, you can't," I begged, "I don't want to be the third wheel again." "You never were, you don't need anyone to be important, you are a team in yourself," he smiled at me hopefully. "Fine," agreed Khione, breaking the heartfelt moment before I could say thank you. Snow swirled around Leo and Khione and they shot up into the sky. I jumped down from the bus. The snow had melted but it was still freezing, or maybe it was just me. There was only the three of us left. I felt something on the leg, I almost freaked and kicked it off, but then I saw Festus Jr. crawling up my jeans. I picked him up and set him on my shoulder, whispering "Don't worry, he'll be back soon," although I knew it was a false promise, and that I was also talking to inanimate object, but I mostly just wanted to hear it for myself. Leo had left his bag on the ground, and I found in the side pocket, two tiny little golden wings, still waiting to be attached. I borrowed a screwdriver, and tucked it into my pocket. Attaching the wings wouldn't be too hard, hopefully and I was determined to do it for Leo's sake. I looked up at Percy who was stroking the Pegasus and saying "Ease up man, it was just a bit of snow, I promise I'll get you some apples later. And I'm sorry your back hurts, she didn't mean to land on you like that." Annabeth was putting on an extra coat, shivering. I turned to Percy and said, "So, what now?" as a tear flowed down my cheek, hitting the pavement. Even with both of them, I was alone again.


	10. Chapter 10

The bus was completely destroyed, the engine frozen over, the immense dent in the top, it was basically in half. "Got any friends nearby?" asked Percy, talking to the Pegasus. The Pegasus snorted a response. "Alright, thanks Blackjack," said Percy. We stood for a few minutes in awkward silence. Annabeth was taking stock of all of our supplies. We had enough money, but we were running out of food, We'd have to stop by a supermarket. I began to zone out thinking of all the people I'd lost to this quest, Nico, Leo, and even though they weren't in immediate danger, Clarisse, Jason, Thalia, and Piper, all gone. I missed Nico so badly it hurt physically to think about, it was a throbbing in my chest every time my heart beat, he was my wingman, my best friend, it was wrong not having him next to me. Silent but present. I was jarred out of my trance, by the clack of hooves on pavement, a sound that by then I was surprisingly used to. I turned to see two pegasi, One pure white, the other dapple grey. "Guido," said Percy nodding to the white one, "And nice to meet you, Bonnie." The grey Pegasus bowed her head slightly. "Please don't call me boss," said Percy, then he turned to me, "These guys can take us pretty far, as long as we give them food at the end." Bonnie walked up to me assessing me with curious chocolate brown eyes. I tried my best to get on her normally, but since she was a good sized horse, Percy had to give me a boost. I've ridden plenty of horses before, even a pegasi, once or twice. I'd had plenty of riding practice at Camp Augusta, but that was with a saddle, not bareback and I certainly wasn't riding side-saddle. I knew to keep my hips loose and to use my thighs to hold on, but when we took off, I knew this was much different. Instead of the rolling motion of walking, flying had a dramatic up and down pump, which was extremely uncomfortable until we got up and could ride the air currents. We glided, spiraling up from the deserted bus. I watched as the baron field landscapes slide underneath. I twisted my fingers in Bonnie's mane. I could see the lake in the distance behind us in the direction where Khione had taken Leo, it looked frozen over, which I'm sure it wasn't before. Percy and Annabeth were out in front of me, Annabeth was reading, which was quite a feat, and Percy looked like he was having the time of his life, although Zeus was ruler of the sky, Percy looked perfectly in his element. The wind whipping his solid shiny black hair, he turned back and grinned at me, he smile clearly saying, "Isn't this GREAT?!" I laughed, a genuine grin spread across my face. A watched the fields pass below us for the next hour, it was like a scenic but turbulent plane ride, with a lot more wind. The land looked like a huge quilt, stitched with rectangles, squares and circles, of golden brown and green fields. I didn't even realize as we crossed from Kansas to Colorado, nor did I realize that I fell asleep until Bonnie nudged me back upright with her wing. I muttered an apology and rubbed at my eyes, I had only been out for a few minutes, fifteen maybe, but it felt like hours. I nodded back into sleep, the second my eyes shut again I was plunged in blackness, I was in the cavern again, the prison cell. Nico sat before me, his knees drawn to his chest his arms crossed over them and his head tucked behind those, so that I couldn't see his face, but I could tell it was him. The lean structure, shaggy obsidian hair, and weathered aviator jacket. I ran to him kneeling in front of his, placing my hand on his upper arm, I could touch him, but not solidly I was hologram. "Nico," I exhaled. His head whipped up, and he looked around frantically, his eyes met mine the dark shadows under his eyes more pronounced than ever as if he'd been smudged with charcoal. He smiled so wide, that I had to smile too. His lips were quivering with weakness, mine were too, but from joy. "Lea," he croaked. "Hey," I reached up touched his face, although I couldn't feel him nor could he feel me, he closed his eyes and shuddered appreciatively. He opened his eyes and took a minute to stare at me, "You look terrible," he said. I could see my reflection in the black pools of his eyes, I had cuts and scars all over my face and I was tired looking, my hair badly disheveled and wind-blown. "You're one to talk," I said, laughing lightly. He chuckled and his entire body shook with the movement, the laugh turning from wheezing to coughing. "Don't worry, I'll be there soon," I said. He tried to reach up and brush back my bangs, which persistently fall in my eyes, but his hand went though me, and the effort to move was too much, his arm dropped to his side and he leaned back against the wall weakly. "Lea, Lea," said repeating my name, rolling it off his tongue like it tasted sweet, "My father's castle its been taken over. We are all prisoners." "Taken over by who?" I begged. "By the-" he began but was cut off by a chillingly high and nasally voice. "Hey, who are you talking to?" it demanded, certain parts of the sentence were said at such high pitch it hurt my ears. Nico grabbed my hand, "She's coming," and the wall beside us split open. I jumped awake. Bonnie snorted and shoved me back upright again from my extremely off-kilter position on her back. I wiped away the tears that were streaming across my face, then twirled my fingers deeper into Bonnie's silky grey mane. I tried to fall asleep again, to go back to Nico, but clearly Hypnos would not allow it. I watched the ground again, heights don't scare me, so I could look down without feeling queasy. I could see three lakes in the distance, very isolated, a larger one, next to a smaller one with another small one not far off. "Twin lakes," called back Annabeth, who was looking at a map. "Blackjack wants a water break," yelled Percy. With that all three pegasi, tucked in their wings and dived. I scrambled, frantically clawing for a better hold on Bonnie. We swooped onto the shoreline, landing roughly. I fell off Bonnie, landing on my butt, the rough gravel poking into my calloused palms, Bonnie let my duffel bag slide off her and hit the dust at my feet. I sat, wiping the gravel off my hands and watching the tiny waves lap against the shore. Bonnie whinnied. "She says thank you, for not being heavy," translated Percy. "Umm, thank you?" I replied. "But you need to work on your balance," continued Percy. I didn't respond to that, am I supposed to be a balanced sleeper? The pegasi, went to get a drink and Annabeth handed me her water bottle which I chugged down appreciatively. It was peaceful here, but I had learned to grow wary of peaceful, mortals tend to shy away from danger even if the don't know it's there. Percy looked unsettled too, watching the water uncertainly. He, Annabeth and I sat in a circle eating our lunch of saltines and granola bars. Annabeth buzzed happily about how far we've gotten without real delay. She was right we were already half-way across the country and it'd only been two and a half days. Suddenly the pegasi began to snort and whinny, backing up from the water. "Whoa, whoa guys. What is it?" Asked Percy standing up. In response the water erupted, a cylinder of foam rushing up hundreds of feet. The foam fell back to the water's turbulent surface, revealing a sea monster. It was the exact same color as the water, and I mean exact, it did some sort chameleon effect, and it had a serpent like body, like a giant spiky blue cobra, with milky white eyes. "Oh shi-" said Percy, but the creature cut him off with a deafening roar. "Ceta," said Annabeth, "Guido, Bonnie, Blackjack get, out of here. Cetus love livestock." Blackjack snorted, then took off, the others close behind. I wished I could fly away like that. The ceta, thrashed around angrily as his meal flew away, I guess he'd have to settle for demigod. He snapped at the air, as if trying to catch an invisible flying cow. Disappointed, he aimed for the only thing that really stood out against the dull landscapes: my hot pink duffel bag. He snatched it away from right in front of me, whipping it around like a terrier with a chew toy. My clothes flew everywhere. Neon orange and pink t-shirts rained from the sky. My favorite pair of jeans land ed in the water, fifty feet from shore. "Really?" I shouted at no one in particular. The Ceta cocked it's head to the side, staring inquisitively. It was blind or at least mostly. A pair of jeggings fluttered down next in front of me. Percy ran out onto the lake and rocketed himself up using the water columns, like he had when I first met him. "We need a plan…" Trailed off Annabeth sighing, "I guess he'll handle this one on his own." She looked slightly, put down, she probably wanted to be helpful but Percy seemed to be doing fine. He was rocketing around the Ceta slashing at its throat, he had gotten a few good cuts but the creature was thrashing around so much it was hard to make contact. Suddenly, the monster whipped it's head to the right, whacking Percy. I think it was trying to bite him, but because the monster was so far off from Percy, it just whacked him with the side of it's face. Percy went flying. He streamlined at least three hundred feet all the way across the lake, slamming into the mountain side. Annabeth gasped, then looked at me desperately. "Go help him," I said confidently, "I've got this," but my voice trailed off at the last part. I probably didn't have this. Annabeth sprinted to around the lake to get to Percy, who was just an orange speck on the mountainside. What now? I checked for resources. My sword, my shield, and a few random pieces of clothing. Mostly tank tops and camp shirts, littering the landscapes like neon pink and orange confetti. There were some undergarments that I really wished were not in the publics view, but at least it was only Percy and Annabeth. The Ceta hissed at the sky, snapped at nothing, picked up one of my bras from the shoreline and flung it to who knows where. Then I spotted my ticket item, the world's stretchiest pair of jeggings. I don't know why I needed such an elastic pair of pants, it's not like I had a huge waistline. I only bought them because they're super comfy, and the additional benefit of being able to stretch them up over my shoulders and wear them as a giant denim-like jumpsuit/straight-jacket. Finally they had a more useful purpose. Now, how the heck to get up to the things face. "Percy!" I yelled at the top of my lungs! This was both a good and very bad idea. The bad side consisted of the Ceta, who had very acute hearing abilities to pinpoint my location and then rocket its face straight to where I was so that I had to dive roll out of the way. The good part was that I dive rolled past the jeggings, grabbing them on my way into the water where Percy launched me up. The Ceta slithered around looking for me then realized I was on top of the huge pillar of water right next to him. We weren't dealing with the brightest opponent. It flicked it's giant forked tougue at me and wove it's head back forth, it was apprehensive for the first now that he actually had a clean shot. I prepared myself, this was either my most brilliant paln next or a suicide mission. I was about to find out. I kept my sword and shield in my pocket both of my hands gripping the jegging's waistline tightly. No screwing up now, or else I'd be sea monster food. Well, lake-monster. The monster finally figured out now was a good time to attack, it lunged forward, but I was ready. Just as it was about to open it's jaws fully I pulled open the jeggings as far as the waistline would allow, which was my entire freaking arm span, and let go. The jeggings snapped tight over the creatures mouth, for it stared cross eyed, quizzically staring at it's new muzzle. I jumped forward grabbing on the pant legs and jungle-vine swinging onto the Ceta back. I looped one around the left side of the head and one on the right, tying them in the back making the perfect reins. Percy and Annabeth were on the ground staring up amazed. "Oh stop your wiggling, there is no way your getting out of the Ultra-Stretches," I yelled at the Ceta. Suddenly he stopped moving. Surprised I tried something different, I stroke it's forehead. He made a noise that sounded strangely like purring. "Hey guys," I yelled down to Percy and Annabeth, "Can you pick up some of my clothes, I think I found us a new ride, and it comes with fortification." The Ceta flared it's spiked hood out to show off. Annabeth put her hand and her hip and smirked, "You are amazing." "I know!" I yelled back, laughing at the absurdity of this situation. She and Percy began to pick up some of my clothes stuffing them back in my partially ripped duffel. I then guided the Ceta's head to the shore where, Percy and Annabeth hopped on. The slightly concaves scale spikes on his back created surprisingly nice seats. Luckily the Ceta could also move on land, he slid swiftly over the rough landscape. I turned back to Percy grinning. "Welcome aboard Norman, Thank you for traveling with Sea-Monster Slither Lines. Please keep hands and feet aboard Ceta at all times. Thank you and enjoy your ride. And we rode our large blue water cobra into the sunset.


	11. Chapter 11

Riding a sea monster is a much smoother than riding a Pegasus, which is certainly something I would have never guessed before discovering I was demigod. Luckily, out ride was undisturbed by any significant monsters, at one points some dracaena in Colorado tried to throw spears at us, but Norman gobbled them up before they could do much damage. Norman also snatched up a few cows on our way, which I felt somewhat guilty about I could imagine the poor farmer who would come out to his ranch the next morning to find that three cows have mysteriously disappeared. I was just glad it was livestock that Norman was eating and not pedestrians. That could result in some strange news reports. I wondered what this looked like through the mist. I could see the headlines now "Colorado Man Eaten By Blue Triple Decker Tour Bus". By the next afternoon we had made it halfway through Arizona. We were almost to California. Annabeth turned around and said to me, pointing to the town up ahead, "Sedona, we'll have to go around, wouldn't want to scare anyone, maybe if we need to we can go into town for a supply run." I hoped so, it would be good to see humanity again. It wasn't that we'd been away from civilization for so long, it just felt like it'd been a while since I saw someone who wasn't a demigod. It the early afternoon sun, it was scorching hot, the bright June sun, mid-way though the sky, soaking through my skin into my back, frying it for sure. Everything glowed warm orange against the rock pillars. Our canteens were almost empty so we'd have to stop and get water soon, especially in the desert heat. Dehydration was more a threat than any monsters at the moment. I tugged on the right pant leg of my jegging reins, and Norman slithered to a stop. With a quick tug on both legs, Norman lowered his head to the ground Annabeth and Percy hopped off. "We'll be back in twenty minutes," said Annabeth, "Bring Norman if we take any longer then that." She readjusted the four water bottles and two canteens that were strapped together, hanging from her shoulder. Percy waved and said, "Stay safe." I laughed to a little to myself, How much trouble could I get into sitting on top of a Ceta in the middle of a desert? Apparently, a lot. Percy and Annabeth began the approximately twenty minute long walk into town while I rested lazily on Norman's back next to the vacant highway. There was a yellow street sign that read "Snake crossing" and had a picture of a rattlesnake. I stared at it for a little while, and the more I did the more it twisted in my mind. It was like one of those physcadelic pictures, that look like there moving but aren't. The letter's twisted and turned in on one another, "Dang dyslexia," I cursed to myself, but continued to stare. The words reconfigured themselves, "Dracones Crossing," the picture warped from a common rattlesnake to some much larger a vicious looking. I scrambled up Norman's back. Dracones, we're the various dragons of mythology and they were certainly not to be messed with. Norman seemed just as anxious as I, every few minutes he'd shake his head disdainfully and snarl at nothing. I decided it would be best to stay put for now, out in the open where Percy and Annabeth could find me. Festus Jr. crawled up my leg and stood on my stomach unsheathing and retracting his claws, in his moth were the two wings yet to be put on him and using his prehensile tail to held the screw driver. "Alright bud," I said to him "I guess now's a good time." He stood in show dog position in my palm, rigid as a board and waited patiently as I used the tiny little screws to attach the delicate gold wings to his back. It wasn't hard, and I knew my way around a screwdriver, I've changed plenty of battery's in my day, so I knew how to do this. When both wings had been attached to Fetus Jr.'s body, he spun around a few times flapping them hesitantly, then took off. He glided for a few seconds, dropped, then flapped his wings and flew off and out of view. I had been ditched by a tiny wind-up dragon, this was a new extent of loneliness. Now I was stuck with my only friend, a blind cow-eating sea monster. Which is a lot weirder saying out loud. I stroked Norman's side for a few minutes trying to shift my way into a more comfortable position in the hot sun. When I had finally gotten into a nice reclined state of whatever, the moment had to be ruined. Norman decided it was a good time to get going, and fast. He slithered as quickly as he could, which was surprisingly fast, in the direction we'd come. I had to scramble to grab onto the jeggings to keep from falling off of his slick spine. "Whoa, whoa, Norman!" I yelled, "WHAT is it?" He was clearly fleeing from something, but what would a ten story high sea serpent be afraid of. The answer was three, twenty story high land-serpents. They unwound themselves from the large rock mounds where they had hidden themselves. One was a sickly green, with severely spiked scales and slitted yellow eyes. The other two matched the landscape, but were no less threatening, pale orange brown, with white eyes, no iris and only a pupil they were definitely the most frightening thing I'd seen…ever. I recognized all three instantly. Python, the most venomous, The Delyphne dragon, known for her viciousness and speed, and the Colchian Dragon, who was always awake and alert. In other words, I was screwed. Norman was nowhere near fast enough to get away, especially from the Delphyne dragon. Norman did what sounded like a nervous bray, quivered underneath me. "It's alright buddy," I lied, "Maybe they'll leave us alone." At this point they were slithering right towards us, the looked in there eyes clearly said, "Yum, Ceta ala demigod." I pulled my shield out of my pocket and twisted of my sword disk, unsheathing it. I pulled out a few forks from my custom made messenger bag and breathed deep preparing myself. Game, plan, what I need was a game plan. First focus on taking down The Delphyne dragon, she would cause the most trouble if she was let loose. They were about two hundred yards away when I heard a strange whooshing sound. Oh great, another factor for me to add up. I really sucked at this plan thing. "WAZZUP?" called a voice next to me. I whipped my head to the side to see Apollo on his golden chariot, pulled by two very restless flying horses. He had pulled up right next to me, smiling brilliantly. He wore ray-bans and a bro tank, with cut off shorts and flip flops and looked as hot as ever. What's up with all my godly friends and good looks? I guess it was a pretty good way to sway me into immortality, endless days with the finest looking guys on the planet. "Man!" he yelled, excited, "I love Arizona weather!" "It's a bit hot for my taste," I yelled back. He shrugged, "Only now that I've arrived." I ignored that, not wanting to boost his ego any more, "I thought gods weren't allowed to interfere with quests, especially not to help." "Ah, you know I'm a rebel," he replied, "Plus this is a bit personal." He nodded at Python, "That's my kill." I nodded back, and he held out a hand, I jumped on the surprisingly stable chariot next to him. We zoomed towards the Dracones, leaving Norman far behind. It was only then that I recalled how much I hate chariots, I clung onto Apollo clutching his extremely ripped forearm. He seemed way too happy about that. He light blond hair whipped around in the wind and he was smiling and laughing as we darted around the dragons heads. For a second I stared at him, gods, he was beautiful, a spitting image of Alex Pettyfer. I shook my head, this guy was my step-grandpa. Weird, but not less strange than the fact that I stabbed my grandma a few months ago. Welcome to the severely messed up life of a demigod. When we got close enough to the Delphyne dragon, I launched my self off the open back of the chariot, at this point in my life I had gotten used to the feeling of freefall, and was willing to jump off about anything. Honestly, if someone told to step off the edge of the Empire State building I would do it, as long as there was a net, Pegasus or a Jason there to catch me. I sky divided for a few seconds and caught myself on one of Delphyne's head spikes swinging myself onto her forehead. She stared up at me cross-eyed, not quite sure what to do. She then shot forward, gliding across the landscape easily. We must have covered at least twelve miles before, she found what she was look for a stone column directly next a natural stone arch. For a second I was confused, my perch on her slightly slanted forehead seemed like a pretty safe place, that was until she began to slam her face into the stone column. Before I was smashed into the red rock, by her head banging, I slid onto her extremely slick back. She apparently didn't notice the fact that I was no longer on her face, she was too busy whamming her head into the rock to notice and intern continued doing so. After a few minutes of this strange scene she looked at the spot where she expected to see smashed pink demigod, only to be disappointed. She looked around dizzily, very confused. I slid down her back and ran up to the stone arch. Thank the gods for my endless runs up the stonewall at Camp, or else I wouldn't have been nearly so good at closing my small nimble fingers around the cracks and crevices in the rock. I climbed into the base of the arch, in plain sight. It took a minute for Delphyne to notice me and when she did, she gave the most threatening glare I have ever gotten from a giant snake. She lunged towards me and I jumped out of the way skidding slightly against the rough stone, then ran back around the arch, one loop complete. I prayed to Olympus that this cliché plan would work. Delphyne was strong not smart. She continued to follow me with her head as I scrambled through the arch again and again. After about five laps she had either caught on or gotten stuck, because she no longer moved to follow me, her body now knotted around the natural arch way that was the key to my success. She hissed at me spitefully trying to back out of the arch, but it was no use, she was too tightly wound. She bared all of her jagged teeth at me, a flash of golden light streaked past me and lodged itself in the she-dragon's throat. I looked away, and with a flare of golden light, she was gone. A pair of snake skin shoes was all that was left in her place. "You want them?" asked Apollo who was now next to me in the chariot. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Didn't think so," he continued stepping off his chariot picking them up snapping his fingers and magically changing into them. Despite their hideousness he rocked them. He invited me back onto the chariot, which I accepted hesitantly, it was my only way back. "All of them are dead," he said, "all of them, well, almost." He looked sad instead of proud which I found quite odd, but I didn't say anything. We zoomed back to the open in a flash of light. Without even moving I was somehow back on the ground next to Norman and Apollo was gone. Norman was lying down, breathing heavily. His back was to me. I walked around to his front and gasped. His milky white eyes stared at me, blinking expectantly. Two puncture marks oozed black liquid on his neck. He had been bitten by Python. I didn't no what to do, the only cure was the golden fleece, which of curse was not an option. I thought on what Apollo had just said, "All of them are dead." I began to cry, but since I was so dehydrated from not drinking for the past few hours, no tears came out. I stroked Norman's head and said through sobs "It's alright, bud. You're gonna be okay, It'll be over in a few minutes." I had only met the guy yesterday, but he was like a large puppy with scales, like my old dog Makkie who had died a few years ago. Even though when I first met him, we were trying to kill each other, I really didn't want him to die. Not now, not yet, not ever. His breathes became slower, turning into wheezes, and his body slacked. I remembered what the prophecy had said about me: On the quest she stands forsaken, left to watch as her friends are taken, It looks like the Fates would take any friend I had away from me, no matter what species. Norman lay before me motionless. He must have tried to help Apollo, and faced his fears by facing both Python and the Colchian Dragon at the same time and ended up getting bitten. As Khoine had said: this was the Age of Sacrifice, as he had done for me. I could tell someone had sent the Dracones back up from Tartarus, to get in our way. Now it was time to take advantage of the Age of Revenge.


	12. Chapter 12

Annabeth and Percy came back to find me sitting in the dirt next to large pile of dust and a pair of jeggings. Annabeth caught on immediately, rushing to my side to and putting her arm around me. Percy stood, confused for a minute, wondering why I was weeping over ashes and some pants. When he saw that Norman was gone and that my eyes were rimmed with red he drew the connection. Annabeth offered me some water which I gulped down gratefully, some of it splashed out onto the dirt sizzling in the heat. I watched the steam rise from the ground where the water had fallen, something shimmered like a mirage in the white curls. I poured the rest of the water on the ground. Annabeth protested wordlessly, shrieking about how hard it was to finda source of fresh water, how many restaurants they'd been chased out of, but then she went quiet. The steam collected in front of us, into a mirror sized oval. Thalia was staring back at us. "Finally," she said, "It was almost impossible to get a connection with you guys, you must be in a really dry area." Behind her I could see Camp and some sort of commotion breaking out. "Piper, Jason and I were able to solve the whole fox-dog paradox, but that's a long story," she said, racing her voice over the shouts in the background, "Things are pretty bad here at camp, creatures are rising up from the earth, appearing from shadows. We are gonna need some extra help." Behind her there were screams and something large a black snarled, a hellhound, much bigger than Mrs. O' Leary was surrounded by a few demigods with spears. Without looking Thalia drew an arrow and fired it at the beast. She got him directly in the forehead, but he seemed unfazed, the arrow not piercing his thick skull. Thalia looked directly at Annabeth, "We need a plan and someone to keep everything under control." Annabeth nodded, "I'll be there soon." She swiped her hand through the steam causing the image to fade, then abruptly turned and threw her arms around me. "I'm sorry Lea," she whispered, "But you're going to have to deal with this one without me," she put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, "You've got this." I bit my lip and nodded, too exhausted to say anything. She stood up and walked over to Percy. They looked into each other's eyes for a few minutes before tightly embracing. He slightly lifted her off her feet, just so that her toes barely left the dirt. I looked away whilst they kissed, giving them as much privacy as I could. I stood up and stuck my hands in my pockets. She and Percy talked for a few minutes, she showed him on the map which route to take, which I'm pretty sure hi just nodded and said 'mhmm' so that she'd stop talking, and they discussed plans for when the quest was complete. Percy called down the pegasi, who had been circling over head for a while. "Yeah, Blackjack, I know it's hot," said Percy as soon as they landed. Blackjack snorted something that as close as I could figure meant, "I want sugar cubes." Bonnie, came up to my and nuzzled my neck, braying softly. I stroked her mane with gratitude, and climbed up onto her back, with my duffel bag. Annabeth hopped onto Guido and gave me one last apologetic look, I nodded to her saying that it was okay, and she and Percy held each other's gaze for a second. Then she took of flying back east, the way we had come. "You okay?" I asked Percy. "I don't want to loose her, not again," he said softly. "You won't," I assured him. Without saying another word, he and Blackjack took off, Bonnie and I following him. The silence draped over us as we flew over the dry landscape, over time forests began to appears and I could feel California getting closer. Every once and a while Percy would have Blackjack hang back and he would check up on me, mostly to see that I hadn't fallen without him noticing. My thighs had turned to a state of utter numbness, someone could cut off my leg and I wouldn't notice until somebody told me. At about three in the afternoon, Blackjack suddenly came to a halt in mid-air and then began to circle aimlessly until Bonnie and I caught up. Percy nodded at me and then at a thin stretch of highway curving through the mountains, surrounded by dry pine forest. Standing by the side of the empty road was a very confused looking man. As we swooped closer I identified him as an Arizona Park Ranger. He was standing, scratching his head and awkwardly switching feet as if he were waiting for someone. "Should we check it out?" asked Percy. "I don't think it could hurt," I replied, "not badly at least." Oh how I wish that was the case. We swooped down, landing the pegasi around the curve of the road, out of sight and then walked up to the ranger. The second he spotted us (which took quite a while, he was very focused on the ants crawling over his shoe) a grin broke out on his face, "Well, what are you two doing so far out into the wild?" "Umm," replied Percy intelligently. "We were just going on a walk and we got a little lost," I cut in, taking it as my responsibility to speak for the both of us, myself being the better liar. "I'd say more than a little! We're out in the middle of nowhere!" he said enthusiastically, his voice fluxuating so much it borderlined clown speak. He had a slight hillbilly/Australian accent which added to it, and did it match his looks. He was in his mid-thirties with skin so tan he it reminded me of burnt toast and he had skater style dusty brunette hair, very average looking for someone with such a big personality. He remarkably resembled that Alligator guy. "Uh where's your truck?" I asked, trying to shift the attention of out story by changing the subject. "It's down on a service road, faster was to get here, besides the walk up the hill." I tried to read his name tag, squinting my eyes as the letters played hopscotch across the white label, as far as I could tell it said: Siris." My first thought was: Isn't that some dead guy from Harry Potter? Oh well, it might not have been his name anyways. Siris, looked over our head scanning the road. "Are you waiting for someone?" asked Percy. "Ah yeah," replied Siris, "Another ranger, I've got a sapling that needs tying and I'm not strong enough to do it myself." "Maybe we could help," suggest Percy. "That would be swell!" exclaimed Siris, his smile stretching wider then I thought possible, "Follow me!" He headed off down the hill, tromping over the dry pine needles that covered the ground. Percy trailed behind him and nodded for me to follow. I paused for a minute hesitant, all of this seemed a bit off. But of course I decided not to follow my gut, intern leading Percy and I into very, very odd danger. Siris led us to a small pine tree in the middle of a clearing, it was about ten feet tall and about as wide around as your average coffee mug. "Alllll-righty!" said Siris, he gestured for Percy to come forward, "Here, just help me pull down this end." Siris, jumped up and grabbed the pine tree a few feet from the top and began to pull down on it, as if trying to bend it in half. But I trusted that he knew what he was doing being a park ranger and all. Percy walked over and began pulling down as hard as he could, his face reddening with effort. This pine tree was clearly the strongest opponent Percy had ever faced, including Kronos. While Percy gripped tightly to the tree, Siris, also holding on, pulled and elastic lash from the ground and began to tie it to the tree. I was expecting him to ask me to put a metal stake in the ground but he just grunted and continued tying the lash, struggling agains the extremely stubborn tree. The tree itself looked like it was fighting to stna dupright again, and it was almost winning. Suddenly, before I could even take a step, Siris let go of the pine tree. And I watch as Percy was flung out of sight. He must have soared at least a hundred yards due to the extreme velocity at which he was launched. Percy flew through the air, off the ground, out of the clearing and then out of sight. For a moment I stood shocked. What in Hades had just happened? Did my friend really just get catapulted by a park ranger using a pine tree? Then my mind flashed with images, pages written in Greek about a bandit Theseus fought on his journey to Athens, Sinis the Pine Bender. "You're next!" exclaimed Sinis, a sickly sweet evil in his tone. And then I said something really clever like, "But-what-how…you-you. You're supposed to be old. I mean dead." He looked surprised for a minute, "You know who I am?" I had regained my senses at this point, well sort of, it's hard to cope quickly when your friend's just been flinged into the horizon by a tree. I pulled my sword and shield disk from my pocket and converted both of them. Sinis looked positively baffled. "Gaea promised me that as long as I gave her sacrifices to rise no demigods would disturb me." "Guess what buddy," I smirked, "Gaea is long dead, that's old news bro." He gasped and scrambled backwards through the pine needles, horrified. "Wimp," I said. I was actually just really happy I didn't have to deal with another cocky, stuck-up immortal(or dragon) taking my friends from me. I was considering not killing this guy and then I remembered how easily this guy had convinced Percy to help him and I thought of all the tourists that probably traveled through here going to or from the Grand Canyon. Without thinking I dropped my weapons, sprinted towards him, flung myself onto the pine tree swing around it, like I used to do in Elementary school on the tetherball poles, and kicked Sinis in the face. He fell the side with the impact, the contact of my converse sole to his face knocking him back. Then I jumped up grabbing the elastic tether from the top of the tree and pulled down , I got it about halfway bent, just enough, and lunged towards Sinis. He was still slightly unconscious from the kick, so I had enough time to hastily tie the lash around his middle. Just before I could to anything else he regained his senses. His eyes widened, he knew what was coming. " .no," he stammered. "Taste of your own catapult," I whispered. Then I let go. Watching him hurled through the air was strangely satisfying, but afterwards I cursed myself for feeling pleasure. I stood with my hands on my hips for a second and sighed happily. Now to find Percy, I slowly glided over to my sword and shield brushing the golden needles off of the. The sunlight caught the divine metal reflecting back at me. I saw my face shining back in the bronze, tried and cut, but relieved. Like someone who'd walked out of a hospital after a long time of being kept in confinement. The late afternoon sunlight, caught my hair, causing it to glow a beautiful caramel with the fading pink of my streaks, which had not been redone in so long they no longer started at my roots. Late afternoon, it had almost been five full days since the quest began, I had lost a lot of friends on the way, but at least I had survived the past four days of complete chaos. Hopefully I'd catch a break soon. Hopefully, but not likely. I hiked in the direction which Percy had been flung for a while, there was no service road to be found and everything looked the same to me. Eventually I past a pile of dust with an arrow with the head and feathers mad to look like a pine tree. I guessed these were the remains of Sinis. I decided to keep the arrow, you never know, being a demigod, when your gonna need something as random as that. I guess it was kind of untold rule of being a demigod: #17-Never leave a weapon/or ally behind. Well, so much for the ally part. After successfully getting terribly lost I decided it would be best not to continue searching this way. I did a taxi whistle, the way Henry had taught me, and within a few minutes Blackjack and Bonnie appeared with Percy and I's duffel bags on their backs. Blackjack landed directly and Bonnie to my side, I climbed on Bonnie's back immediately, "and addressed Blackjack, "I need to find Percy." Blackjack snorted and took off, Bonnie after him. It took about three minutes to find Percy. He was sprawled on his back on a large pile of pine-needles, which had luckily cushioned his fall, but he was still pretty bruised. I helped him get to his feet and up onto Blackjack's back. He chuckled a thanks, "I can believe I didn't see that coming." "Hey, crazy three-thousand years old pine bender isn't exactly in the manual is it?" I joked. Yeah," he replied, but it sounded more like he was saying 'Yeah, it is.' "We'll find a motel to stay at soon," said Percy, wheezing mid sentence, "I'll make sure it's safe first." He tried for a smile but only one side of his mouth lilted. Gods, he sure must've missed Annabeth because he simply wasn't himself when she wasn't around. Maybe he was just worried. It sure was a drag having him act like that, I though to myself, and then I realized that's how I had been acting the entire first half of the trip, missing Nico. Not anymore, only optimism from here on out. I disabled my weapons tucking them back into my pocket , not realizing that the arrow had disappeared. As Bonnie took off into the sunset, I didn't notice the shimmering iridescent dust beginning to collect on my skin.


	13. Chapter 13

Percy and I flew into the sunset, chasing the golden orb as it sank beneath the horizon. We were so close to California, I could feel it. As it became dark, Percy and I scoured the land below for a highway, or any sign of humanity. As I began to lose hope, seeing that there was no lights for miles, Percy pointed north and I saw a glowing speck in the distance. It was a small old motel, only a few dim yellow lights illuminating the parking lot and walkways. According to the neon sigh above the lobby doors it was the ARIZONA INN, but I wasn't 100% sure because a few of the letters were out so it looked more like :AR N. Percy and I said goodbye to Blackjack and Bonnie, Percy insisted that we wouldn't need there help anymore, which I was sure about, but he was the only who could communicate with them, so I let him decide. Both Blackjack and Bonnie looked relieved to be let loose, I guess toting Percy and I across the U.S. wasn't their idea of fun. I watched mournfully as they took off, but Percy assured me we'd find a car to 'borrow' tomorrow, then he left to check us in. I stood with my back to the wall, my hand partially tucked into my pocket, watching the forest line, awake and alert. At this point I was ready for anything. Percy came back jingling a pair of keys, he had a small scratch on his left cheek that was bleeding. "What happened?" I asked. "There were a few dracaenas trying to check in, I took care of them." "Oh," I replied. I pictured him cutting off the snake demon lady's head whilst a old lady behind the reception desk, squints through her glasses, having no idea what just happened. Or that she just lost a customer. Our room, was pretty basic but I nearly cried out of joy when I saw the microwave and the hot cocoa and popcorn packets next to it. Percy and I sat of the two twin beds and ate our dinner of extremely over salted and buttered popcorn (I used every single salt packet), Percy got some chips from a vending machine and we drank hot cocoa and coffee. We browsed through TV channels, and when he saw that Clash of the Titans was playing Percy yelled "No!" and pressed it twenty channels up, I guessed he was not a fan. There was nothing good on, so instead we watched a Spanish soap opera on mute and did the character voices ourselves. I ended up laughing so hard that my cheekbones hurt more than any sword wound. We were horrible. At around eleven at night, I took a two hours long shower, scrubbing off what I couldn't determine whether if it was dirt or layers of my overly tan skin and scraping of the little scabs on my arms and face. At one point I shoved my entire body underwater, and stayed there seeing if I could breathe like Percy could, no such luck, which of course I already knew that. I made a mental note not to try that again. After using every drop of conditioner and going through my normal hair routine twelve times, (pulling out dried blood and pine needles) I got out and blow dried. Making a toga out of the towel I used the blow drier for so long the power went out, much to Percy's shouting, but I didn't care, I had too much fun let the warm air hit my face forcing back my cheeks and whipping around my now soft hair. It was one in the morning when I finally went to bed, lying on the scratchy comforter, which was heavenly compared to pegasus back. Percy and I joked around for a while, talking about various gods and what they'd look like in the eighties. I pictured Aphrodite in a neon pink spandex jumpsuit with a leopard hair band that pulled back her huge artificial blonde crimped hair. It one my most horrifying mental images ever. I could tell Percy was having trouble falling asleep, so when he turned around I silently got up and placed my finger tips on his temple, there was faint pink glow, and he was snoring instantly. I however, could not do the same for myself and stirred restlessly until three. When I opened my eyes I would've fallen out of bed. By would've I mean, if I could've, if I was still in bed. I sat up, I was sitting in the middle of a field. A field I recognized instantly. Cook's Meadow, Yosemite. Except it wasn't really Yosemite, the trees were moving as if there was a breeze, but there was none and there was no sound. Everything was dead silent. Strangest of all was the look of the place, exactly like Yosemite but there was a strange tint, everything glowed golden. Like the sun hitting grass at that perfect time of sunset, except there was no sun, it looked cloudy except I couldn't tell since the sky was a shifting dark golden yellow. It was like an instangram filter over the entire place. It reminded me of the Twilight or Spirit Realm from Legend of Zelda. Everything had its own little glow, a small dim radius of light, including me. Staring at my hands I noticed something different, well, besides the fact that it was semi-transparent, my scars and scrapes were gonna. My nails were perfect ovals, not chipped, cracked, and dirt encrusted, like what I was used to. Also my left ring finger was straight, unlike it had been for four years ( slammed my finger in the car door in order to get out of the first day of sixth grade). My skin was flawless, no freckles, scars or blemishes. All of that was great, I liked looking like a goddess, but my outfit was revolting. Mostly, the fact that I had mysteriously changed both out of my clothes and into new ones without noticing was alarming, but the fact that it was a dress made it thousands of time worse. It was a sheer cream toga, that hung loosely over my body, comfortable but dysfunctional. I tried standing up tripped over the hem and feel back down, so I ripped about a foot off the bottom and used it as a belt. For a while, I took in my surroundings, there were no birds , no field mice, the only movement was the swaying of the grass and leaves and the expanding and contracting of my chest as I breathed deeply. From the forest edge erupted a stag, beautiful golden and glowing more than anything else, it stopped, looked at me, as if very surprised to see another living creature and then sped off. I decided the best idea would be to follow it, it would probably lead me to someplace important or it could lead me into a death trap, but either way following it would be more interesting than staying here. I chased it, through the abnormally soft grass, splashing through a stream, and to a waterfall. Yosemite Falls, to be exact. The water frothed and bubbled luminescent. When I was about ten feet away from the deer, and finally had I cornered, it turned around and looked at me and said, "Who are you? And why are you chasing me?", In a distinctly male human voice. I was so surprised I fell over backwards. "I-I'm Lea Reclin. Daughter of Morpheus," I stuttered in response. The deer smirked (as much as deer can) and replied, "Hello, my dear niece, I am Phobetor. Your father did not tell me you were coming, we do not usually get visitors in the dream realm." "Niece? Dream Realm? What? Why are we in Yosemite? You're a deer! You talk! My uncle is not a talking deer." He chuckled, "Lea, daydreamer, I am your father's brother. I am the god of creatures appearing in dreams, I can take what ever wild form I choose," he suddenly glowed brighter and his body twisted in to the form of a rabbit, then back to a stag, "This is my preferred state. Come walk with me I will explain." At first I was hesitant, but hey, it was a shape shifting deer, that's pretty dang normal for me. I shrugged and followed him back the way we came, he led me through the woods, I noticed something different about the dream realm, it was definitely Yosemite, but there were no roads or paved trails. It appeared to be back in time before any humans had come here. I liked it better, it seemed so much more… right. As we walked, next to a dark liquid stream, Phobetor talked to me, "This is the alternate reality, I see that you recognize where it is, were just another dimension over, that's why it looks so similar. It used to be a part of the underworld but as we moved west this past time we decided it would be best to stay separate, that ended up being a great idea, especially seeing the condition of the underworld now. This realm is called the 'Land of Dreams' or 'Demos Oneiroi' home of the Oneiroi, sons of Hypnos, the leader of which is your father and includes myself, and my brother Phantasos. You may be considered an Oneiroi yourself, that is for Morpheus to decide." We entered another field, this one I didn't recognize, it was much more secluded by trees. In the very middle of the field was a tree, an old wilting oak, with no leaves, instead, draped from it's branches were tiny teardrops of glowing light. I walked towards it mesmerized. Just as I was reaching out to touch one of the glowing orbs, it expanded, thriving as I drew near. I was about to touch it when Phobetor, said, "No," and pushed my hand away with his horn, "that is a dream, in solid form, touch it and you will be transported inside. But because it is a dream that has already been shifted, you will not be able to alter it to your liking, thus you will be trapped inside until the dream is over, pray you it is not a nightmare." I drew away quickly, recalling my nightmares with Nyx and how trapped I felt. "I see you know the trouble of a locked dream, perhaps it is time you learned more. Come, sit." He shifted into a wolf and sat about thirty feet away from the trees base. I knelt in front of him. "You know that you are in a dream right now," he said. "What?" I questioned, but then remembered how I got here. "Only gods, can come here when awake, seldom come at all, hence me being so surprised at your appearance," he explained. I nodded, that made sense, I was still in the motel room, sound asleep as Percy snored next to me, oblivious to my strange mental transportation. Phobetor, stared at me with his glowing amber eyes, what I saw in his gaze was a mix between speculation and approval. He saw potential. "There are many types of dreams, falling under three categories, with three classifications. There are divine messages, insights, and common dreams, which can be fantasy, nightmares or regular," he explained, "divine messages are dreams that are send from gods or titans, usually threats or requests, they are locked and cannot be edited by any of the Oneiroi, you have experience this before, although you are an exception, you managed to overpower Nyx. You are the first." I let that sink in. I was the first being to ever take control of a locked dream. I did what no god could. That was insane, Nyx probably just had her guard down. Phoebetor continued, "Insights is where you can look upon reality, while asleep. You can watch and eavesdrop without being noticed. We Oneiroi regulate these dreams, but will grant some others to use them. Your friend Percy was given many insight dreams, by myself in secret, I had to disobey your father in order to help your friend. I'd say it was worth it. I guess you could say I contributed to the downfall of Kronos more than I was credited." I shuddered, thinking of my father's betrayal, I still felt a little hatred and perhaps a little secondhand guilt from that. "Common dreams are fairly self-explanitory, it is everything inbetween. All of these categories can also have various types of dreams within them, omen dreams, wild nonsense, or nightmares. Do you understand?" "Yeah," I replied, "I think so." "Try to create a dream, right here, right now." "Create one?" I asked, I've never created a dream, just edited. "Concentrate on a scene, add in factors, make it believable." I closed my eyes. I pictured Camp, serene, mid-morning, early summer. I added in some kids playing volleyball, others sitting and chatting. Then I pictured the old wind-tattered picnic table, I could see Percy and Nico sitting there waiting. They were about to turn around, but then the scene snapped away and my eyes shot open. "Wonderful, you successfully immersed another into a dream realm. You can do this at anytime as long as you focus, you can do this at anytime as long as you concentrate, you can use it to throw off opponents. It works as a successful mirage, but only until they figure it out. Now try to alter perception, change this realm's reality. You can only to this when asleep." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, then opened them again, tiny fairies dance along the grass tops, giggling noiselessly. I had to giggle happily, I'd always hoped to see fairies, but it was wonderful knowing that these fairies were of my creation. I twirled around dancing with them, my dress no longer a burden. I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened to them I too had wings. I leapt weightlessly. And then I remembered Phobetor was still there, and I stopped immediately, self consciously making the images disappear. "Wonderful," he said, "You have a vivid imagination, that is extremely helpful. I'm afraid that is all I can teach you and both will only work in you are in deep concentration. Hopefully these will help you on your quest." "I'm sure they will," said a voice from behind me. I turned, and nearly ran into my father, who was standing directly behind me. He smiled calmly at me, his silver hair longer than when I had last seen it, but he looked essentially the same, black tuxedo and lead colored tie, kaleidoscope eyes, with every color imaginable. "Hello, Lea," he said, looking down at me admiringly. I had forgotten how extremely tall he was, at least 6'4. "Brother, you don't mind if I steal her away for a few minutes, I too have things to teach her." Phobetor nodded and said to me, "I will be waiting." I sensed distrust between them, probably due to my fathers betrayal. "You are becoming very skilled with your powers," said my father, beginning to walk in the opposite direction as his brother, inviting me to walk with him. I won't deny how wonderful it felt to be praised by my father, it filled something inside me. Something that had been empty for so long. "Thanks," I replied meekly. "How are you doing, overall, this quest appears to be taking it toll on both your physical and mental health." "Yeah, you know, well actually you don't, but quests can be intense, but it's nothing I can't handle." "I worry for you," he said, staring at me, pitifully, "You appear to be very lonely." "I've got Percy." "You miss your other friend, though, the child of Hades. You two are connected." I didn't respond, he had hit the target, I needed Nico more than I wanted to admit. I needed him there, like he was when I was facing Nyx, silent but constant. To hold my hand when I was nervous, not caring if I was sweaty, dirty, and gross. To nod telling me we'd be okay. Someone to lean against, unfaltering. Just… there. It hurt so much when he wasn't. "It worries me that you feel that way," said Morpheus. I could tell that he couldn't read my thoughts completely, but he could pick up in the overall vibes of them. It felt strangely violating. "That you feel that you need others," continued my father, "That is your fatal flaw, Lea." "What? That I need a friend to lean on when I'm hurt. That's not a weakness, that's human." My father looked at his shoes, awkwardly avoiding my eyes, "That's not it, everyone needs help every once in a while, but you feel like you need help all of the type. You feel like you can't function without some else there. Like you are worthless when alone. But that's not true Lea, you are powerful, even when on your own. Your problem is that you don't believe that. Your fatal flaw is dependency. You are dependant on your friends, your weapons, your powers, and you feel like without them you'd be nothing. Lea you are much more that you credit yourself." I'm not sure if this hurt or helped. It was true, and it felt good to have somebody believe in me, but I did need people. I can't do everything on my own. I was having trouble keeping my vision forward without the help of my friends, there was no way I could complete this quest alone. "Come, I will teach you how to better you use your powers, although it is not necessary," he said. He stood in the middle of the clearing we had come to, stood straight and touched his fingertips together, closing his eyes and concentrating. I suddenly felt the need to sit down and rest, then to lie, then to sleep, sleep for a few days maybe. I was about to succumb to the temptation, when he opened his eyes. "You are stronger than most," he said, "With that amount of power I put the entire city of Manhattan to sleep." "Hmmm?" I asked drowsily, stumbling forward. I was really sleepy. I could o with some coffee. I caught myself on him, and then the second my finger touched his suit, I felt awake again, much more than any Five-Energy could do. I pulled away, the same glowing light that surrounding the dreams hanging from the tree, trailed from my finger tips. "Wonderful," congratulated my father, "You just drew out some of my energy essence. Unfortunately, since I am immortal it would take more than you could hold to cause me to slumber. In fact if you tried you'd spontaneously combust." "Lovely." "You can remove essence from mortals, simply by physical contact, or eye contact. You did this with Nyx." "Then how come I didn't explode?" "Well, as far as I can tell, you removed her essence, but instead of taking it for yourself, you dispersed it over the land, hence the growth of plants, the sudden change in weather, and overall tiredness of the nearby population. I seem to remember, that not one of Shasta's many residence, felt the need to sleep that night." "Is that why everything glowed all gold?" I asked. "Yes, that and the angle of the sun, Dawn's appearance and the use of the sun sword." "Oh," I replied, "How was I even able to take that much energy, to put her to sleep." "You had reached a point of such scheer unfathomable hatred toward her, it was overpowering." "So hatred is key?" Morpheus shook his head, "Not quite, it's half of the key. The other half is happiness. A perfect balance between pure rage and serenity creates the ultimate power." "Did you just quote X-Men?" I asked, laughing, there was no way my father was so up to date in pop-culture. "What? The writers had to get there ideas from somewhere. Perhaps a dream," he said smirking. "No way," I said. He smirked in response. For a minute we stood in silence, myself reveling over the fact that my dad had helped create one of my favorite movies. "So balance between rage and serenity?" I prompted. "You've seen the movie, they explained it well enough," he replied. "Take you anger, let it well inside but think of your happiest memory, and let the oblivion in between, fuel you," I summarized. "Precisely." "I guess I can't use it here," since I'm already asleep and you can't fall asleep. I'll have to test it out of some mortals later." He chuckled, "Just make sure they aren't in any places were traffic could come." I laughed, cautiously, picturing the gruesome scene. "Let's return to the Oak, the others are waiting there," he said walking back the way we had come. "Others?" I asked. He didn't reply, instead I was answered when I entered the field, two new people were there, along with Phobetor. On Phobetor right was what appeared to be a statue, which I knew for sure hadn't been there before, smooth marble, forming a man almost identical to my father, except younger, and with slicked back hair. On Phobetor left was another man, shorter than the statue, plump and jolly looking. He had beady purple eyes and a face that welled up around his eyes, with extremely puffy cheeks. He wore an outfit like the KFC guy, and he had little angel wings on either side of his head. He waddled up to me and hugged me so tightly that I lost all traces of breath in my lungs. "Hello, hello, my dear Granddaughter!" he exclaimed. "Erm, hi," I managed, trying to regain my breath as he let me go. "Beautiful girl," he said to Morpheus, "Pink is a nice color." I wasn't sure if he was referring to my face or my hair. "Lovely, she could join us. I'm Hypnos, god of sleep." "Nice to meet you," I said curtsying slightly. I glanced at the statue, I could have sworn he didn't have his arms outstretched a second ago. I looked at my father for explanation. In response he said, "That is Phantasos, god of inanimate objects appearing in dreams, also god of nightmares, like Phoebetor is the god of fantasy dreams." I looked back at the statue, It now had a hand outstretch as if for a friendly hand shake. I did all that I could of a handshake with a statue. Then pulled away quickly, he reminded me too much of the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. "Unfortunately, we are going to have to ask you to depart soon, Lea. We have godly matters to discuss," said Hypnos. "Oh, I see," I replied, feeling slightly put down, I had hoped they were here for me, and that I wasn't just an unexpected interloper. "Goodbye, Lea," said my father, resting a hand on my shoulder and looking deep into my eyes, "Remember what I told you. You are strong." I nodded, offered a small wave to Phantasos. When I blinked, we was suddenly in the position of waving back. Phobetor, still in wolf forms, walked up to me, " Good luck, although I doubt you will need it." I stroked his head, and he closed his eyes appreciatively. "Thanks," I said. "Come with me," said Hypnos, and he offered a hand. I took it. Suddenly we were somewhere else, on top of half dome. Right at the cliff edge there were two gates, both virtually identical, the one on the right was whiter and smoother, the one on the left was more crudely carved, and creamier colored. "Choose, and decided whether this dream will be the truth or just a deceitful mirage. One of these gates is made from horn, the other ivory. One only true dreams can pass through. You must decide which is which." I try to protest, but only stuttered, how was I supposed to decide. I needed a hint. But then I realized, I didn't need any help, just like my father had said I could do this myself. The one on the right was too perfect, like those cheerleaders with to nice of hair and teeth, you could tell something was off about them underneath the disguise. I stepped forward, the crude gate opened itself for me. I heard Hypnos chuckle, but I didn't turn around, instead I walked through. Instead of falling off the edge of half dome and landing with a splat, there was a sight dropping sensation and I sat upright in the motel room bed. The dawn light filtered in through the closed curtains. I was really happy to see a full color environment again. Percy was leaning against the kitchenette counter sipping a cup of coffee, he looked at me, and said with a grin, "Morning sleeping beauty, ready to get rolling?" "Yeah," I replied happily, adjust my camp shirt which I had managed to tangle myself in during my slumber. I was kind of disappointed I didn't look the way I did in the dream realm, all of my scars and imperfections were back, but at least a was wearing pants again, not some stupid dress. "Good," said Percy, rinsing out his coffee cup and handing me a mug of cocoa, "because our next stop is Camp Jupiter."


	14. Chapter 14

We packed up our bags, and I hesitantly left the shower behind. Percy broke into a emerald green minivan, with a license plate that read "SSSSSSS" which I guessed once belonged to the dracaena's, either than or the old lady who owned the inn had a very strange collection of Greek armor, which she kept in the trunk. After "borrowing" the minivan we sped off down a highway we listened to the local alt-rock station, singing along loudly, with the windows rolled down whipping around our hair. It was a few hours of perfection, just two normal teens going on a road trip in a stolen dragon ladies' minivan. I let my arm rest out of the window, feeling the wind through my fingers, every once in a while, I would twirl my fingers letting a little pink glow emerge. Percy noticed after while, "You're getting better at that," he said. "Yeah," I replied, "I went to the dream realm last night and my dad and uncles taught me a few tricks." Percy looked surprised but just nodded, "Cool," he said. It must have been a little weird for him to hear that while we were asleep I was actually talking to gods. There was a few minutes of awkward silence, but when Priscilla Ahn's 'Dream" came on the radio, we both looked at each other and smiled, remembering the first time we'd met. I sang along and Percy drove in silence, listening to me, looking over at me every few seconds and smiling. When the song ended, he began talking again, "I think that we should drive past Los Angles at first, go to San Francisco, get Roman reinforcements, restock, and recuperate and then go to the underworld. I don't want to delay the underworld that much, but I don't want to jump in unprepared. Plus, the prophecy said, 'Recall those who have gone before' and that includes Frank and Hazel, so we'd better go anyways." "I'm down," I said, "I could really do with some R&R." Honestly, I really did want to get to the underworld ASAP but I didn't think Percy and I could do it by ourselves. We drove uninterrupted for the next six hours, we stopped at a diner and got cheeseburgers, then drove for the next twelve hours. I fell in and out of sleep, I could tell Percy was near the edge of passing out from exhaustion, but he was keeping himself awake by drinking gallons worth of Coffee with ambrosia as sweetener. It got to a point where I would just transfer my energy essence to him, wishing that I could drive so that we could take shifts. By this time I began to recognize the landscape. We were already near San Francisco, it took a while, but a lot less than I expected. I watched the landscape pass, becoming more and more familiar. I also noticed that we were being followed. I groaned when I saw the bat-like shapes flying above us. "Furies," I sighed. Percy groaned and rolled his yes in response, we'd both dealt with these desperate, unfaithful, creatures before, they were more of a nuisance than a threat at his point, us being so close to Camp Jupiter. I heard one screech and it swooped closer to our car. "Ten more minutes, just leave us alone for ten more minutes," pleaded Percy, the irritation in his voice more than evident. Another screech and then one of them collided with our windshield, Percy swerved a little, surprised by the thunk and due to the fleeting blind spot. A few cars around us honked, apparently confused by the vultures that were attacking our car. "That's it!" said Percy, pointing to a tunnel not far ahead. "How are we going to get there without getting run over, attacked or worse." "Strap your bag on, and when I say so bail, I'm going to swerve out of the way and then jump out with you, the van with hit the tunnel side and cause a minor explosion, hopefully enough of a distraction, and then the guards will hopefully take care of the furies." That sounded like a good enough plan as any. Percy counted down for me as I secured my duffel bag to my body, "5…4…3…2…1!" I slammed open the car door, hitting one of the furies in the process and rolled out, back up to my feet. A dodged my way through traffic. Before I knew it Percy was next to me, I glanced to the side to see, the minivan collide with one of the tunnel walls, it must have had some Greek fire in the back, because the explosion was much larger than I expected and the hot air threw me back a few feet. I skidded across the black cement, and just nearly avoided getting crushed by a Sudan and then a RV. I heard Percy yell something, it might have been my name, but my hearing wasn't quite working so well after the explosion, I turned to look up at the sky to see if more Furies were trying to get me, but I really should have looked forward to see the Prius. There was a brief second were I could see a mortified soccer mom and her three extremely enthralled ten year old boys watch me as my eyes widened. Then I hit their windshield, there was a crack, which I hoped was the glass and not my bones and then I rolled over the top of the car. There was a lot of screaming, which I guessed came from inside the car and maybe myself. When I was finally on the ground again, I didn't even hesitate, I sprinted to the side of the road, jumping over a small silver Corolla. I finally made it to where Percy was waiting, he pulled me over the barrier, and up to two boys in full armor, shooting at the furies one with a crossbow the other with a regular bow. The one with the bow turned to the other and said, "I'll get them through, cover us, as soon as were all in you follow." He took one last shot, getting a fury on her left wing causing her to fall for a few feet before picking herself back up, but with difficulties. Then the boy unlatched the door and shoved me through. When the door shut I realized there were only three of us. The archer said, "He must have though it unsafe to leave anymore time for the Unkindly Ones to get through." "He sacrificed himself?" I asked, shocked. We leaned against the walls, catching our breath. "It was his choice," said the archer boy, he looked me up and down with watery blue eyes, "we need to get you to the infirmary." I looked at my hands, bloody and cut from the pavement. Yeah, I could do with a Band-Aid. Something slammed against the door, I jumped back, preparing myself, letting the pink glow emanate from my hands. The door crashed open, outside I could see the boy with the crossbow, battling two furies with a sword, but what worried me more was the furies now hissing at us from the doorway. I growled back, which was strange fro me, but oh well, then lifted my hand parallel to the creatures face and with a flash of pink light it passed out, the archer finished the job. That took care of one of them, but unfortunately it had got another's attention. "RUN!" shouted the boy. We raced down the camber, the fury screeching, half-flying, half-loping after us. The pipes on the wall exploded, water gushed out pushing the fury back. "I didn't mean to do that!" Shouted Percy. "You didn't!" shouted the boy. The archer pulled off his helmet revealing soft rich brunette hair, turned back to me, and grinned, "Jared, son of Fontus, god of Springs, pleasure to meet you Graceus." He reached out and shook my hand with both of us still running. "Lea Reclin, daughter of Morpheus, god of dreams, the pleasure is all mine," I replied through my heavy breathing. "Oh yeah, I've heard of you, you're the Greek chick you killed your great-grandma a few months back." "That's me," I replied. The Fury screeched from behind us. Jared turned and fired and arrowed over his shoulder, he was a good shot, but the fury was fast and she dodged so that the arrow just barely scathed her shoulder. We were only ten feet away from the door but the Fury was catching up quickly. I hastily undid the latch and kicked open the door, revealing blinding sunlight. In the few seconds it took for my eyes to adjust, the Fury had caught up. She slashed Jared across the face with her claws, and I could tell he regretted taking off his helmet to show off his face. Percy stood trying to shield his eyes from the sun, I did what instinct made me do, I unsheathed my sword, and while I watched as Jared fell in slow motion, I turned and swung my blade, cutting the Furies' head clean off. She exploded into dust. And that was how I introduced myself to the Romans. I offered Jared a hand up and said, "Looks like we need to get you to the infirmary also." He chuckled at little and accepted my help. I looked out over the camp, it was exactly how Percy had described it, except a little more chaotic, there were campers everywhere, some fighting hellhounds others battling skeletons and some standing staring at me with mouths open. Apparently they weren't used to girls in pink beheading demons. "Sorry, but your just about as safe here as you were out there," said Jared, "The borders have been broken we've had attacks like this going on for days, luckily we have the numbers to keep them subdued. I heard a hellhound whimper from behind me as we began to walk to what I expected was the infirmary. Jared continued, "Octavian says that Hades has been overthrown and the attacks will continue, and although he's a prat, he's usually right when it comes to prophecies." "It's true," I agreed. "Well…that sucks," said Jared, he then signaled to a small blonde chick in armor, "Go send more soldiers to the entrance, Mickey needs reinforcements." "Yes, sir!" the girl squeaked and then sped away on her short legs. "Sir?" I asked. "Yeah, he replied, " I'm the head Centurion of the fourth cohort, kind of lame, but I can still tell people what to do." I pretended like I knew what he was saying, Percy had once tried to explain the cohort system to me, but I kind of tuned out after the first few words. Jared led us through the various battles, at one point a hellhound lunged at me but Jared intercepted, putting an arrow through the roof of the beasts mouth before it could do any damage. I estimated about twenty hellhounds total and around fifty skeletons, but around two hundred campers out in the fields. They had it under control, plus I was in no shape or mood to be fighting. I think I might have fractured my wrist, because the pain was so bad I had to cling it to my side and clench my teeth. We entered a low roofed marble building that would have been open aired with only columns for walls, but sheets of canvas had been hung between each marble post. There was two rows of about fifteen cots, most of them occupied. A lot of the injured had claw or bite marks, a few a had sword cuts and bruises, only one or two had broken bones. A beautiful tall girl with honey blonde hair and a warm smile drifted up to us and with a reassuring smile took my hand, I winced but let her examine the damage. "Fractured," she said, "but we'll get it fixed up in no time, sit here and I'll go get some ambrosia and bandages," she gestured to an empty cot and I sat down willingly. She smiled at Jared, fluttering her eyelashes, making a little spark of jealousy light in my chest. I have possession issues. I don't like girls being better at flirting than me, which is pretty much every girl. Percy stood looking over me, he tucked a few stray strands of my hair behind my ear. "Dang, kid, you iced a titan no problem but got taken out by a Prius, what's up with you?" he said, lifting up my chin and prodding my shoulder playfully. He didn't look nearly as beat up as me, apparently he was more practiced when I came to dive-rolling out of minivans. The blonde chick came back, and began to dab at my bleeding cuts with a washcloth and I gulped down nectar. The warmth spread throughout my body, I could feel myself healing from the inside out. I sighed, it felt so nice, like a campfire inside my chest, complete with smores, warm and friendly. Suddenly a hush feel over everyone, a respectful silence. In swept four people, in perfect pyramid formation, leading it was a beautiful girl with dark speculating eyes, that glared at me, her down-turned lips gave her an essence of regal snobbiness, but I could tell from her practically braided back hair and armor she was no frilly princess. "Reyna," said Percy. She nodded, regarding him, then turned to me. "What happened to you?" she demanded, looking at my cuts then at me. "Got rammed by a soccer mom in a hybrid," I replied. For a second she didn't reply, then she exhaled and the sides of her lips turned up, "alright then, from this day forth, no more hybrid driving football mothers allowed past the borders, since it has been proved they are hostile against guests." I laughed, I liked this chick, she was like a Xena warrior princess meets Lara Croft meets Twilight Princess Zelda. The blonde healer chick bobbed in between us tending to my cuts. "I request council once you are healed," she stated and then swept from the infirmary, a blonde boy with a scowl following her, looking back to glare at me. After Reyna had fully exited the building the other two who had come with her rushed forward, one a African American girl, about a year younger than me, jumped up and hugged Percy tightly. He lifted her up off the ground, and said happily, "Hazel! How are you doing?" He set her back down and bro hugged the other person, a slightly rotund but adorable Chinese guy. "I'm good," said Hazel, "Frank I got here as quickly as we could when we heard you'd arrived. Are we still going on a quest?" "Lea and I are in the process, actually," said Percy gesturing down to me, "We need some reinforcements, if you guys wouldn't mind coming along." Hazel smiled down at me, her eyes like gemstones, beautiful topaz, Percy had told me about their adventures together, she was pretty cool from what I heard. "Hey," I said," I'm Lea." She grinned, "Yeah, I've heard about you, you're pretty tough." That was the best compliment I'd gotten from a stranger…ever. "Uh, yah, thanks," I replied, glancing down at my torn sneakers, the toe cap was completely torn off, exposing my toes. "We'll get you some new ones," offered the Chinese boy, then he extended a hand, "I'm Frank by the way." I shook his hand, "Nice to meet you." "We'll leave you to get all healed up now, see you in bit," said Frank, he nodded at Percy and Jared, then he and Hazel walked out the way they had come. It took about a half-an-hour and two glasses of nectar for me to stop feeling like road kill and by that time I was feverish. I don't think they should have let me drink that much nectar. The healer probably thought I was more used to the strength of the divine drink. After getting his face cleaned up and helping bandage my hands, Jared took us to a armory (which had to be three times as large as Camp Half-Blood's) and pulled me out a size eight pair of combat boots, they were soft brown leather that fit tight to my foot. Comfy, but heavier than what I was used to. We walked up to a place called Temple Hill, the walk was a little exhausting for me, which was pathetic because it was only about a half-mile with a small slope. Jared said goodbye to me as soon as he saw the others waiting at the top of the hill, I wanted him to stay, but didn't want to seem weird, since I'd only just met him. At the archway gating the building stood Reyna, Hazel, Frank and the blonde boy. At Reyna's ankles sat two grey-hounds, beautiful in stature as they were in composition, both gleaming metallically, Aurum and Argentum, Gold and Silver. Percy had told me about them. As soon as I Percy and I reached the crowd, Hazel, Frank and the blonde kid walked away, Percy following them. Leaving me to face Reyna alone. She peered down at me, I looked pretty shabby, except my new boots, with my hands wrapped in gauze, ripped jeans, cut face and only about half of my hair in my ponytail. The two dogs sat up and began to sniff around my ankles, they didn't not growl in the slightest, the silver one looked up at me with ruby eyes, I stroked his smooth head, and looked back up at Reyna. "Truly virtuous," she said, "You must not be a liar." "I see no need for it," I replied, "Unless it is to protect my friends, or deceive my enemies." Reyna smirked, "I like you, Primum-cruor," then she turned on her heal and walked towards a temple, making it obvious that I was to follow. I didn't know how to respond, I just gulped and trodded along behind her. She led my to a Greek styled building, that looked a lot like the Parthenon and walked up the stairs and into the darkness. I walked up the steps, hesitant, I didn't like entering enclosed areas with people I don't know very well, or dark places, or temples either, so this was kind a bad choice for me. Reyna was waiting inside. The marble was a simple silvery gray, that reflected so that, everything looks like a mirror, I saw way too many of myself, it also made me feel really short for some reason. Reyna was look up at a statue at the end of the hallway-like room. A harsh looking goddess, who strongly resembled Reyna, the same taught face, naturally glaring eyes, and arched eye brows. "Bellona," announced Reyna, "My mother." Her voice echoed of the shadowy walls. Aurum and Argentum weaved through the pillars. "Isn't it disrespectful to talk loudly in a temple?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low, but still clear. "No," replied Reyna, with a small haughty laugh, "I think your confusing this with a library." "Oh," I said. "And don't worry," she continued, "My mother doesn't mind, we are two respectable lady-warriors, come sit, she shall discuss plans." She gestured for me to sit next to her on the stairs leading up to the shrine and statue. I sat down on her right, and nervously began to French braid back the little bits of hair that weren't long enough to properly fit in to my ponytail, tucking them into the golden hair band. Without asking my permission, she smiled, and undid the rest of my hair, combing her fingers through it, easily untangling it. "I used to work at a spa," she said, "That was until your friend, Percy, destroyed it," she sounded a little bitter but more like it was an old story to laugh at now. "Ah," I said, "That sounds like him." She skillfully twisted my hair into a long braid like hers, it felt nice to have my hair played with, I'd never really had any gal friends before to do my hair. I was that girl who always played sports with the boys on the field, instead of socializing during lunch back at school. She tied it back with the hair band Leo had given to me, after looking at it for a while, letting it rest in her palm, "This is pretty," she had said. "My friend Leo gave it to me," I replied. "The same Leo who launched a small missile at my camp?" she asked, giggling, the tone of her voice nostalgic, almost admiring. "Most likely," I replied, turning back around to face her, I could see my hair in the marbles' reflection, it looked great, the soft pink and brown weaving into twisted patterns. "So," she began, "Do you think you'd like to stay here once you've completed your quest?" "Yeah," I replied, "Maybe I'll visit when Percy's works as praetor, since I live near here, but just as a visitor. I don't really want to be a camper, Percy says it's a lot stricter here. Also I couldn't get the tattoo, since I already have one there," I said showing of my intricate poppy. "I figured, you seem like a free spirit. I prefer order, but I respect you decision. I'd like you help you as much as I can." "Why?" I asked, "I mean you seem nice, but why are you so willing to help me along? I didn't think Romans were into that." "Jason talks about you often when he's here," she said, "He seems to be quite the fan, I think we all respect your gusto. Bu maybe we're just happy the pressure is off us." A little balloon of pride welled in my chest, She said I have gusto. "Frank and Hazel will be assisting you on your way into Hades, and you will be fully equipped with new means of transportation and if there's anything else you need just tell me. You will sleep in the barracks tonight among the fifth legion, which I figured you'd prefer since you'll be with Frank, Hazel and Percy and you will depart in the morning." "Sweet," I said, she apparently had it all planned out for us, "Thanks." "Now," she said, standing up and helping me up along with her, "You have a council with Octavian the Augur." "The blonde kid?" I asked. "Yes," she said, bitterness in her voice, "The blonde kid." I recalled Jared saying something about a boy named Octavian being a prat, apparently that was a popular opinion. I also remembered Percy talking about a teddy bear murder, but he got pretty broken up when he started talking about a panda pillow pet, so I couldn't hear him very well. Octavian was waiting outside, the others were gone, as she left Reyna put her hand on my shoulder, and gave me a look that clearly said, "Good luck, and try not to punch him, now matter how much you want to." I didn't see much hope, I was already fighting the urge just looking at him, blank staring eyes, with a disapproving scowl. Like I was scum compared to him. Without saying a word he turned on his heel and began to stride up to the largest temple, "Hurry up!" he called back to me. I groaned and jogged up to his side. He pumped his long legs quickly, clearly wishing to leave me behind in his dust. He entered the temple and I followed him in. It was much more open than Bellona's temple and reminded me a lot of Olympus, but instead of thrones there was a huge gold statue of Zeus in the middle. Which seemed a bit conceited, but then again it was Zeus we were talking about, or in this case Jupiter. There were intricate mosaic patterns of the floor and I felt bad stepping on the art, it was kind of against my nature. Octavian stood with his arms crossed, glaring at me, "I'm Octavian, an Augur, gifted with prophecy." "My friend Rachel does prophecies too, she just spits them out," I said, enjoying the put down and annoyed look on his face, he wasn't as special as he acted. "I'm also the legacy of Apollo," he boasted. I chuckled and mutter, "Oh Apollo, where have your standards gone?" Octavian looked outraged, his eyes widened, "You dare insult the lord Apollo!" "Nah, man, it's cool, Apollo and I are bros," I said, reassuring him coolly. "Bros?" sputtered Octavian. He was at such a state of disbelief he was practically doubled over, in order to hide this, he turned around and pulled out a knife, which made me a bit nervous. "Yeah," I continued, enjoying watching him cringe, "I spent a lot of time hanging out with him while I was at Olympus." "You? You have been to Olympus?" he laughed mockingly. "Duh, where else was I supposed to hang out when I was a goddess?" He froze, tensing up, he said quietly, "You were a goddess?" "For a bit, but ya know, it wasn't exactly my style so I ditched." I could hear him muttering manically, "not my style, ditched." At this point I could tell he was going crazy, because he began to tear into a stuffed giraffe. "Leave me," he said, "As I read the entrails." "Cool man," I said, "I'll be outside," and I walked out grinning triumphantly. Percy, Frank and Hazel were waiting out there for me, and I told them what I had said, and they laughed along with me. Everyone loved hearing how I had tortured him. After a few minute he marched out recomposed, and he stated, "The Romans shall accompany on the quest, but first your alliance to the Romans must be proved to Jupiter by retrieving the Senate's Flag. Otherwise your journey from here to Charon's ferry shall be undisturbed. Oh and one last thing," he said, grinning at me evilly, "The daughter of Morpheus must enter the underworld…alone."


	15. Chapter 15

15- We Play Capture the Flag: Level 2 I stood there for a few minutes going: What? No. Nope. Wrong. What? There is no way in the gods good names that I could get into Hades by myself, let alone, fight monsters, get past Cerberus, break into the castle of Hades, break out Nico from the dungeon, and then kill or at least put to sleep the crazy powerful and unknown being/beings that took over the underworld from the freaking lord of the dead. No. So instead I began to hyperventilate. I put my hands on my knees and tried to regulate my breathing. Octavian looked very pleased and amused by this; he stood for a minute, reveling in his victory and then swept back into the temple to, inevitably, cut up more innocent beanie babies. Percy put his hands on my shoulders and said something to me, I couldn't hear him over my heart pounding in my head, but he was probably saying something like, "Lea, are you alright? Lea?" Not alright. I think I might've been having a panic attack. This is what my dad had told me about, I thought I couldn't do it on my own. He said I could, but I still wasn't convinced. As of right then I was having trouble standing on my own. I remember thinking: Well, I'm screwed. And then everything went black. *** I woke up in what I expected was the barracks, it was a lot like the infirmary, but it had walls instead of canvas, it was dark and dismal in there, but through the few windows I could see daylight breaking through. That was odd, I had passed out at sunset. Had I slept all the way through the night? Yes I had. Percy was sitting on a bunk across from me, his head down and his folded hands resting on his knees. I could tell he had been trying to keep vigil over me all night, so that he would be there to comfort me when I woke. But of course he didn't make it, nodding off before he could get the chance. I let myself lay for a few minutes, observing the room, lots of bunks, all of them empty. That meant either it must have been late in the morning or they had an early start to their day. I unwrapped the gauze from my hands, checked the damage, it was bad now that the gravel was out and the blood was cleared. I took the non-bloody bandages and wrapped them back up. I was still in all of my clothes and above the sheets, lying like Snow White, a display almost. I sat up and turned to face Percy, I didn't want to wake him, but I had to, we needed to set off. So instead I backed my bags silently, then his, and when I was all ready to go, I pulled some of my energy essence from my chest, which there was a lot of, due to my heavy sleep, and place my glowing fingers to his forehead. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at me helplessly. I drew my hands away. "You didn't have to do that," he said, the tiredness in his voice apparent. "Clearly," I said. "You alright?" he asked, his eyes were watery, he looked worried for me. "Yeah," I assured him, "I overreacted a bit. I just wasn't prepared for such a wrench in our plans." "I'm sorry, I really do want to be there for you," he said. "Don't risk coming along with, prophecies always come true, and lets try to let this one unfold in the safest way possible." He nodded, "You know that you really can do it, think of all the things you've done by yourself just on this past quest, you tamed a Ceta, killed three Laestrygonians, and killed Sinis the pine-bender." I sat looking at him for a few minutes, both of us looking into the others eyes, pleadingly. We were both on the verge of tears from pure exhaustion. Mental, physical, but mostly emotional exhaustion, this quest was stripping us to the bones. "We have to get going," I said, quietly. He nodded. I handed him his bag and we walked out of the barracks. As was to be expected Hazel and Frank were waiting outside to escort us. They must have noticed our expressions, because they didn't speak but simply led us up the hill, back across the small bridge over a river, and up Temple Hill. Reyna, Octavian, Jared and multiple other campers were waiting there, including the healer girl. Reyna spoke first, "I hope you slept well, I heard your night was quite…emotionally depriving." I nodded thankfully at her, glad she spared the details. "We have prepared a meal, and transportation for you. Chelsea, has stocked the van with medical supplies that she thought would be appropriate," said Reyna, gesturing nonchalantly at the blonde girl, "We have gone to the liberty of repairing and sharpening your weapons, which were returned to you this morning." I felt ashamed, I should have noticed my sword was missing after I elf the infirmary, but I guess it was a good thing in the long run. "Finally," said Reyna, "Frank and Hazel, valued members of the fifth cohort will be joining you on your quest if you manage to procure the Senate's Flag." Octavian stepped forward, and so did I, trying my best to establish dominance. He would not win this petty little fight and last night was a low blow. He began to speak, in that stupid nasally voice of his, "I order to prove your allegiance to the Roman forces, you Lea Reclin, leader of this quest," he said quest like it was more of child's play than the excruciating journey that was going to save his sorry butt from getting eaten by a hellhound, "Must retrieve the Senate's Flag, from the location where we have successfully hidden and kept it, Six Flags: Animal Kingdom. It is hidden from mortal eyes, but you will know it when you see it. You have till sunset to retrieve it and present it to the gods. We have already bought you tickets for your entrance to Six Flags. You escorts will be there to monitor and may not assist you. The flag may not be harmed in any way or else you will have failed. Finally, when you fail, excuse me, if you fail," he coughed as if to correct himself, but you could tell his words were completely intentional, "The Romans will come back and offer you no further assistance." "What?" I demanded. "If you can't get the flag, Frank and Hazel can't come with you," he said slowly annunciating every word, speaking to me like I was so stupid that I couldn't understand English. "The prophecy said 'all who have gone before,' not some," I protested. "Yeah, well now it says something different," he spat. I walked up to him, "Prophecies don't just change." "Well guess what, Graceus, it did. And since you such 'great friends' with the gods you can take it up with them," he sniveled. I screamed internally, THIS GUY WAS SUCH A FREAKING 'WORD THAT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO SAY'! And then I punch him in the face. I don't remember seeing my fist collide with his nose, but I remember hearing everyone gasp, seeing him fall backwards, and looking at the small amount of blood on my fist. He looked up at me with such awe, hatred and surprised as I glared down at him, breathing heavily. "Beat it," I growled. He looked desperately at everyone else, mostly Reyna. "Did you not see that!" he exploded, "She just acted hostily against the only augur of this camp. She should be put to death, or exiled at least. Don't just stand there!" She stumbled to his feet, clutching his nose, which was now gushing blood all over his pure white toga. His pale eyes flickered to every face, ending on mine, I raised my chin, and stood defiantly. He sprinted away into the temple of Jupiter. I waited for everyone to attack or for Reyna to declare my banishment. Then everyone began cheering and clapping. They were applauding. I tuned to look at Reyna, she smirked with admiration and then swept off disappearing in the crowd. Percy flung his arm over my shoulder and squeezed me to his side, I just stood for a minute in awe. "We've all been waiting ages for someone to do that, honestly I thought it would be me," and then he steered me down the hill. The next few minutes were a blur, I vaguely recall getting into the white cargo van, and eating some super delicious omelets, but not much more was clear, I think I might've still been in shock from the past 24 hours' events. It only took about a half-an-hour to get to Six Flags, and by that time I had regained my senses. Percy, Frank and Hazel were discussing plans, but since Frank and Hazel couldn't help us in any way, it wasn't much help. It didn't take long to find Six Flags, it kind of stood out, probably because of the hundred foot tall bright green and red rollercoasters. There was hardly any line getting in, but there was a good amount of people there. From the entrance I kept my eyes peeled for any sort of flag, nothing yet, but I doubted it would be at the entrance anyway, too easy. We started out by searching the 'Sea' section, every once in a while Percy would stop and ask a seal or dolphin if they knew anything, most replied with "Fish?" or "I don't know, it not like I can go exploring or anything," (the seals were very sarcastic). We stopped at the dining court and ate Panda Express, Frank complained that it wasn't very authentic, but I liked it. It was sunny and cold and I had left my bag back at the van, so Percy lent me his blue hoodie, claiming he didn't need it. It fit me pretty well, a little big, but who doesn't love loose sweatshirts? It smelled like him, that lovely ocean breeze scent. I rolled my hands up in the sleeves, twirling the stray pieces of thread in between my fingers as we walked. By two in the afternoon, I was beginning to loose hope. Percy tried to lighten my spirits by offering we go on rides, to take advantage of our free entry. I agreed, maybe I could see better from up high. We went of Vertical Velocity a few times. It was my favorite ride; I loved the launch, that feeling of sudden acceleration. Percy and I loved the rides, but Hazel and Frank weren't such big fans. Hazel didn't trust them and Frank got motion sickness pretty easily. So we ditched them and went on V2 one last time. When we were at the top of the spiral, I noticed something, over at the only section we hadn't visited, the ride Medusa, there hung a triangular flag, six fleet long and bight scarlet, flapping in the wind. I didn't say anything but when the ride finished, I got off and began to sprint the way to Medusa. When I finally made it, after shoving through many angry pedestrians, I looked up at the ride. I could've sworn there was a flag there before. But now, it was gone. I stood for a few minutes, staring in awe, two minutes ago there had been a huge maroon flag hanging above the ride's entrance. Percy caught up to me, breathless. "What is it?" he asked between pants. "It was there," I said, pointing. "Maybe you just imagined it," he said, "Man, I am still hungry." "No," I said quietly, "It was there." Percy seemed to distracted by his hunger, he turned to me patting me on the back, "I'm gonna go get a pretzel and a churro for you, you ride and I'll meet you in a few minutes for the second round, kay?" "Alright," I muttered, and then walked to go get in line. I latched myself in and waited for take off. The ride lurched into action, a small dip, and then a large climb to the first, and biggest drop. Because I was sitting in back I went over the hump last, the cart was pulled down the steep slope, I tried to scream but the air caught in my lungs, and I scrambled for a better grip on my seat. I was familiar with that dropping feeling, due to lots of experience, falling from the statue of liberty, dividing of a Pegasus, being flung from a giant's face, being dropped by Khoine, usually I had a Jason there to catch me. This was different, I wasn't falling, I was being pulled. At this point allot of people on the ride were screaming, then there was a loud thunk, and then everyone was screaming. "Son of Posssseideon!" hissed someone from the front of the cart. Well, once again: I'm screwed. Half-crawling, half flying up the small aisle between the seats was a woman, scaly skin, with snakes for hair. She wasn't Medusa, that was for sure, or else everyone, including myself would be stone right now, but she certainly was of some relation. "Where are you, Percccy Jackson?" she asked, crooking her head to the side, "I can sssmell you!" How she was managing to stay on the ride, whilst we did loops was beyond me, but even more amazing was how she managed to not notice the fact that a good 30% of this time we were upside down, clearly her hair and clothes didn't understand gravity either, because they didn't even shift. She whipped her head to look at me and her forked tongue flickered out of her mouth, "You! You smell of Poseidon! Are you a daughter?" "Oh well, this is awkward," I said, "I'm actually wearing his jacket, so that explains the whole, scent thing." The gorgons eyes widened. "What?" she spat. "Yeeeaahhh," I replied, "I'm just borrowing it." "B-but," she protested, "We were told he would be here, we were going to eat him!" "Oh don't worry he's here, but unfortunately he's a little busty at the moment," I said, the ride screeched to halt, we had come to a small flat area, a ridge just before a few more loops, the operators probably stopped us because of the random demon woman who wasn't strapped in properly. I quickly grabbed my necklace, activated my sword, and popped off one of the bolts that kept me in my seat with my newly sharpened blade. I threw the harness off me and rolled onto the small catwalk next to the track. I tried to slice at her, but also had to avoid chopping off the mortal passengers head in the process. "Another demigod?" she shrieked, stepping out onto the cat walk with me. "Daughter of Morpheus," I said and then slammed the hilt of my sword into her temple causing her to fall back. She stumbled almost to the end of the catwalk. I glanced over at the ride operator, who was watching us, absolutely horrified. I'm guessing their wasn't anything in the job training about sword fights on the coaster tracks, or maybe he had just slept through it. I yelled to him, "Start it back up!" He scrambled for a minute and then pressed a button. I took my chance, as the gorgon was charging back toward me, I feinted to the side, faking a jab, and then kicked her in the chest, sending her flying. It was perfect timing, the coaster cart reactivated, launching forward to meet her, causing her body to collide with it's nose. She exploded all over the front, coating many passengers in sulfuric dust. It would take a few panic blankets and therapy sessions to get through that one. I jumped down from the catwalk and over the fence, grabbing Percy's hand as I went. I wanted to get out of there, but we couldn't exactly leave the park without finding the flag, so I decided it would be best to run to the other side of the park. Percy tried to ask questions, but he never finished his sentences, the only part I could full understand was, "…but, my pretzel," which I inconsiderately had not given him the time to buy. First off, I needed a place to hide, to escape from security or the police, who ever was going to come after me for whatever charge they wanted; terrorizing the public, homicide of a demon woman, etc. Percy and I rounded the corner and I saw the perfect place, there was a roped off stadium entrance leading to Dolphin Harbor. I leaped over the rope and sprinted up the pathway to the stadium, with Percy following behind me. The stadium was essentially empty, that is except for one more gorgon, but that didn't count. Luckily, there was no cast, crew or audience to get in the way. Percy and I stumbled into the bleachers, the stadium was so blue, that if I sat down, wearing Percy's blue sweatshirt with the hood up, you wouldn't be able to see me. The stage was small, most of it taken up by a small pool, but had jettisons and small platforms everywhere, there was also rigging above our heads, hinting that they did some flying acrobatics in whatever performance was showcased here. Hung from the rigging was the flag, hanging in bright contrast against the rest of the stage. In front of the flag stood the gorgons, she was looking up at it proudly, she was saying to herself, "Yeah, that's nice. I looks good there, no demigod will ever find it," and then she turned around to see Percy and I standing there with both of our swords drawn, staring at her, "oh." "Beano," said Percy, "I mean Stheno." Percy and I looked at each other, and nodded. Suddenly, as if the pipes had burst, spurts of waters shot at the gorgon pummeling her back to the floral stage background. It was Percy, he was controlling the water, using up his concentration and power. I ran trough the small stadium and to the stage side, jumping from platform to platform, trying to get to the gorgon as efficiently as possible, without falling into the water. Stheno was about to meet a very headless end as I drew my sword, but she had anticipated me. Against the force of the water, she flung her clawed hand out, knocking my sword back just as it was beginning to unfold, the blade ricocheted back and sliced through my face, just at the jaw line. I fell backward, landing hard on the plastic stage, my head hitting on of the raised platforms. A flaming pain shot up in my skull, and closed my eyes or a second, grimacing trying to regain to thoughts and composure. I heard Percy yelled, "Lea," and whilst he was so concerned about me, he lost his concentration on the water Stheno, so that she had a minute to escape. I opened my eyes to see her grabbing the flag, and beginning to fly away, I scrambled, towards her, fumbling for the flag, my vision when in and out of blackness, but I still managed to get a grip on the red cloth. I clung to the soft material, but perhaps a bit too hard, just as my vision fully came back, I saw the fabric tear, cut straight through by the tension on both ends. Tearing my hopes with it. Octavian voice echoed in my head, "The flag may not be harmed in any way or else you will have failed." Stheno grinned seeing my face, she knew what this meant to me. "No!" I cried, watching the magical fabric dissolve, turning into ash and then disappearing. I was angry, she had gotten in my way, she had ruined this side quest, she had wasted my time, now it was time she returned to Tuataras. She landed, with no need of her dimpy little wings anymore. From her belt she pulled a whip, the leather cracked through the air with skill and precision. "First off," she said, "for revenge." She flicked the whip, it slapped Percy across the face, knocking him to the ground and leaving a bright red mark down his face and neck. I winced for his sake, that looked more than painful. "That was for killing me and my sisters," she said, "and for not accepting any of my Crispy Cheese and Weiners, didn't even try a bite!" "My sisters and I," I corrected her. "Oh thank you," she replied, "Haven't gotten the chance to fully learn English yet, Google translate doesn't work very well in Tuataras." "Yeah, probably don't get much wifi down there do ya?" I asked. "Not at all, sometimes we can hack into Hades' server, his password is always super easy, like 'hadesforthewin', 'godofthedead' or 'zeusisstupid'," explained Stheno. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Percy cautiously got up, making his way to the stage. "Good to know," I replied, "Since were both going to be in the underworld soon. I'll make sure I send you a text or something when I get there, maybe we could have coffee or something." "Ah yeah, that sounds nice," said Stheno, "Wait..." "What?" I asked, trying to keep her distracted from Percy, who was now directly behind her. "I'm not going to the underworld anytime soon," she stated, tilting her head, as if she was confused. "Don't be so sure about that," I said confidently, and I was about to lunge at her, then I realized I didn't have my sword, I must have dropped it when I hit my head. I looked around desperately, on the bottom of the pool, glittering gold it laid, too far out of reach. I prayed that Percy knew what he was doing. I blinked and the next thing I knew, Stheno was up in the riggings, a harness strapped around her ankle. She thrashed, trying to free herself from the bonds, but she was secured up there. I turned to Percy, "What now?" "We could just leave her there," he suggested. "And leave some mortal to find a crazy lady hanging from the ceiling," I protested. "I'm not crazy!" screamed Stheno, "Just misunderstood." "Good point," he agreed with me, "No Beano, your just crazy." We stood for a minute thinking, how were we to get rid of her without causing much trouble. "Those cords are fairly elastic," said Percy. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked. It was time to use some of the skills Sinis had taught us. Within minutes, Stheno, her wings tied, was flying across the Vallejo skyline. I just hoped, wherever she landed, would be away from people, several haunting images flashed into my head, maybe it wasn't the best decision but no going back now. "Fantastic," I said, placing my hands on my hips, turning t Percy. "Just marvelous," he replied, he kicked up the ash that coated the ground. The charred remains of our mission. "Well," I sighed, "better go tell Frank and Hazel." I looked into the pool, my sword rest on the bottom. It was a bit chilly for swimming but oh well, I'd live. Then the sword began to rise as if lifted by some invisible hand, it rose from the surface, enveloped in a sphere of water. I looked over at Percy, hoping for an explanation, but seeing his waterbending stance, I understood. I reached out grabbed my sword and contracted it, nodding a thank you to Percy. We trekked outside, jumping back over the rope barrier. I'd like to say I did this gracefully, but I was tired and hungry, so my feet didn't go all of the way over and I ended up kissing the pavement. I ended up biting my lip, so there was a small stream of blood coming down from the corner of my mouth. I'm only graceful during battle. Frank and Hazel were waiting over by the tigers, Frank was eating a funnel cake (without ice cream, which I thought, was absolutely absurd) and when he saw us, he nearly dropped it. "What happened to you two?" piped Hazel, rushing up to me, pulling a lacey handkerchief out of her pocket. She began to dab at my face, which made it very hard to talk. "Gorgons," I explained, my voice muffled. "Where's the flag?" she asked. "Destroyed." She gasped, "Oh no." "Yeah," I replied, "I'm just glad you guys got to come along for the short while that you did." She looked at me sympathetically, and then began to tend to Percy wounds, the whip mark being the worst of them. We headed back to the van, Percy adjusted the mist so that mortals couldn't see our wounds, we didn't want them to freak. Saying goodbye to Frank and Hazel was hard, I didn't no them well, but they were my hope. With them getting to L.A. would be easy. Hazel hugged me tightly and I promised he rI'd get Nico back safely. When I mentioned her brother she sniffled and looked up at me with dewy eyes, "He talked so much about you last time he visited, I could hardly get him to shut up, I know he's going to kill me for saying this but he said, 'She's confident and independent, and beautiful'." I stood for a minute gawking, then replied, "Um, thank you." She grinned and then hugged me again. I shook hands with Frank and he promised that they'd get back to Camp safely and wished Percy and I luck. At that point I wasn't really listening, Hazel words repeated in my head. Nico thought I was beautiful. Me beautiful? My skin's almost the same shade as my hair, I'm a dull shade of tan, I'm lanky and flat-chested, I'm way to broad shouldered and I haven't gotten a haircut for almost two years now. I'm nothing compared to the Aphrodite chicks. The only thing pretty about me is my eyes and I get insecure about those too sometimes. Thinking about this I didn't even realize Percy and I were all ready driving south. From here Octavian had promised our journey would be uninterrupted. I hoped for once, that he was right.


	16. Chapter 16

The drive to L.A. was incredibly boring, no signs of mythological creatures anywhere. Not even harpies eating the road kill off the highway, like usual. I kept my armor on just in case, but in mist form. Percy and I didn't really talk much, he and I communicate better through sighs, groans, and smiles. The silence was nice, it was comfortable. I was so used to having conversations be filled, everyone trying to keep it going or not having conversations at all, but wanting to, not knowing what to say: the awkward silence. But with Percy it was easy, we could understand each other fully in three words or less. I kept thinking back on all of the good times Percy and I had together, but it hurt more, because whenever I was happy, Nico was always there, maybe not speaking or being fully noticed, but there. As hard as I tried not to think about it, my thoughts kept whipping back to the fact that he thought I was beautiful. My reaction was a mixture of disbelief and disbelief. Mostly disbelief. I'd never even looked at Nico twice, I didn't need to. I guess he's cute, scrawny and gaunt with unfading shadows under his eyes and his hair is absolute mess and his voice cracks a lot, but cute. Not exactly the dark sexy son of the death god. More like that scraggy abandoned puppy you find in a box on the side of the street that you have to take home and give a bath and some food just cause it looked at you 'that way'. There was a little while when I first met him and after talking to Eros, I felt a bit attracted, but still: weird. When I rescued him from the underworld I'd look closer. We reached L.A. at sunset, earlier than I expected, but that was probably because Percy doesn't believe in speed limits. He and I had eaten sandwiches for lunch, which had been pre-made for a us and wrapped in tin foil. Now that it was late, we were starting get hungry. Percy slowly meandered the car down the streets, which were surprisingly empty. All of the shops looked closed and had grates pulled down over the windows, preventing break ins. Judging by the fact that all of the building were cream and simple, with graffiti and tags all over them, we weren't in the most high-class part of town. Suddenly, a man dressed in black darted from one of the alleyways and across the street, Percy couldn't break in time and there was aloud thunk. I cringed, knowing how that felt. Not fun. There was a second where Percy and I looked at each other, our mouths open in shock. Then we both scrambled out of the car. I tripped again, not a good day for me. As soon as Percy was about of foot away from where the man lay, the man jumped up and sprinted down the street. "Wha-?" said Percy, but he was interrupted by two car doors slamming. Percy and I watched, stupefied, as two other men drove off in our van. "I'm gonna let you explain that one to Reyna," said Percy, "I mean she probably expected it to get destroyed, not stolen by mortals, this is a new low for me." "Yeah I'll explain to Reyna," I replied, "But who's gonna explain to those guys when they find the crossbows, nets, maces and Greek fire in the trunk." Percy chuckled. "Well we better find a place to regroup, just not any waterbed emporiums, or furniture places altogether." I would've thought it would be easy to find a place to stay in Los Angeles, but it appeared to be deserted, not even any hobos. About three blocks down, only one place showed any sign of life. Muffled rap music blared, or at least I thought it was rap music, but I couldn't tell, I could only hear the bass. It was the only place that wasn't painted crème, but was instead black and deep red, very ornate looking, with floral lace-overlay red curtains drawn over the windows. It appeared to be a club of sorts. Above the doorway, in large Broadway-like light font displayed the club's name. Don't ask me what it was, I have no idea, I couldn't read it. Percy and I shrugged. "It's probably a trap," he said. "Beats starving," I replied. I traced my fingers around the activating jewels on my armor and followed Percy through the large black double doors. Somehow the music managed to get louder than it already was. My eyes were met with a glorious feast of color. Gold, black and deep scarlet adorned every inch of the place. It was more elaborate than any place I'd ever seen. With three levels, top most being a simple walkway with a detailed black railing, this level was probably designed so visitors could get a better view of the circular stage in the middle of the bottom level that surrounded by tables and chairs. The middle level was only a few steps up from the bottom and surrounded the room, there were circular booths, some with the red curtains drawn. There was also a bar of the left wall. Girls in flapper dresses slinked around serving drinks and fancy dishes. And it was incredibly crowded. So this must be where all of the L.A. population disappeared to. "Welcome," piped a suave voice from my left, "I am your host Atreus." Luckily that name did not sound familiar. He was short man, only about 5'6, so we were at the same eye level, he was wearing a tight black tuxedo, and he had his hair slicked back to look like one of those men from the silent movies. He had a small pencil mustache, dark eyes, and a charming smile. Atreus vigorously shook Percy and I hands. When he shook mine he looked surprised, "You're a bit young aren't you? Well, no discrimination I say. Just don't go into the back room, alright?" Percy and I exchanged glances. "Listen," said Percy, "We're just looking for a meal and a place to spend the night." "Alrighty then," chirped Atreus, "I'll reserve you two a room and be back with menus in a minute. All of our tables are full so you'll have to sit at the bar. I'll tell James you're minors," and then he disappeared into the crowd. "Not a bad trap," said Percy. Percy and I shoved our way through the crowd and over to the bar. It was beautiful, slick clean black counter tops, and shelves full of brightly colored liquor on a luminous blue background. Another man, a bartender, wearing suit pants, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black vest came up to us, and handed us the menus. He was taller than Atreus, but had the same hairstyle, except he wore it much better, he was very handsome. He had that sophisticated look about him, like he listened to authentic jazz records because he preferred the sound. He leaned on the counter and said to me, "Demigods I suppose?" My mouth dropped open, "Yeah." "Me too," he said, "Son of Dionysus." "You mean this place isn't for mortals?" I asked. "Hardly," he replied, "In fact, mortals can't find it." "Mist?" asked Percy. "Yes, a very strong deception filter created by the mist, mortals can't even this place," explained James. "So these are all demi-" I began, but when I looked around I had to stop, gulping, "Monsters." A few seats to my right, sat a dracaena, glaring at me while she sipped her martini. As I scanned the room, my eyes began to see through the mist, the flapper girls appeared to be demigod girls, but most of the spectators were Cyclops, telkhines, gods, or centaurs and a few giants. "Don't worry," assured James, "There are strict menu only eating policies." Percy looked equally as panicked as I did. "So, as for the menu," continued James, "You might want to be careful." I flipped through the pages, my eyes focusing on dishes such as "Virgin Supreme" and "Lawyer on Lettuce" guessing that these weren't just creative names I slowly folded it back up. I looked up at James, pretty sure my eyes were wide enough to look like an anime characters and said, "I think I'll just get a Caesar salad, purely vegetarian." "Me too," managed Percy. James chuckled, "That's what I thought." Percy and I sat next to each other, our body so tensed and rigid that if you poked me I'd probably punch you purely out of reflex. Percy and I ate our salads in silence, James flitting around occasionally telling a joke in attempt to make us feel more comfortable. It didn't really work. It's hard to act natural around creatures who you've probably already killed or killed one of their relatives or friends. Awkward. Percy and I kept making eye contact, eyes fluttering to each other, checking to see if the other was okay...enough. The second we finished our salads I asked James where our rooms were and he called a waitress the lead us. I noticed Percy was particularly uncomfortable around her, she had long blonde hair and was pretty. She smelled like heavy perfume but with an underlying scent of farm animal, strange. I had to blink a few times to see through the mist. I stumbled into a Cyclops when I saw her true form, she had one metal leg and one that looked like that of a mule. She glared at me, but then shot her icy gaze back to Percy. I could tell they had some history. She led us down a dimly lit hallway, with shiny scarlet wallpaper and gold trimming. I couldn't get over how beautiful this place was, it was like a palace. She Led us to one of the doors mark with 306 on the right hand side of a hallway, across the hallways, a werewolf looking guy was flirting with what looked like a evil nymph. The blonde centaur/automaton/dancer stopped at the door opened it with a fancy gold key, and opened it for us, "Welcome to your room," she said, with a bitter sweetness, stuffing the key into Percy's hand, "fish," she growled and then strutted off down the hallway. Percy and I rushed into our room, he quickly locked the door behind us and exhaled deeply. "Whew, "said Percy, "Thank the gods for that no eating the customers rule." "You knew her?" I asked, "Yeah, she's an Empusa," he replied, "I killed her just before my freshman year." "That could explain why she looked like she hated you," I reasoned. "Yeaahhh," replied Percy, but he was looking past me, into the room. I turned to see what he was looking at, the room was the same scarlet/gold color scheme, with tasseled curtains and a chandelier. It was perfect, except for the bed. In the middle of the back wall, like a showpiece, was the king sized mattress. I nearly vomited upon seeing it. Embroidered satin comforter, large poofy pillows, all displayed on a four-poster heart-shaped bed. I turned to Percy and said, "I think I'll sleep on the couch." They're was a very awkward silence as I walked over the feinting couch, sitting down on it. "You know, "I said to Percy, contemplating, "I think I'd rather have the monsters be attacking us." "Me too," sighed Percy, flopping onto the bed. "So," I started, "tomorrow." He sighed even louder, "I don't want to leave you." "Everything sucks," I groaned into a circular pillow. "Octavian said you must enter Hades alone, he never said I can't follow," suggested Percy, but he was just as hopeless as me. "You know what he meant." We both lay for a minute staring at the chandelier, listening to each other breathe, thinking of ways to get around the stupid prophecy. There was nothing we could do, and we both feel asleep knowing that. I woke up to smooth jazz, grimacing, a charming voice resonated through the room, he announced the song title and artist, both I didn't bother to remember. There was crashing outside and few shrieks. Percy jumped awake. "Just a bar fight," I assured him. He sat up, groggily rubbing at his eyes, "I forgot we were here." "I wish we weren't," I replied, readjusting my mist form armor, which had twisted itself severely. Percy looked out the window, "It's not a far jump, just about twenty feet, and there's a fire escape." Within a matter of minutes her and I were scaling the wall, and jumping off the fire escape. I know that might seem a bit dramatic to you mortals, but seriously, when you've got around thirty of your enemies in one room, the majority of them hungover, you tend to avoid that at all costs. Also, I pretty sure that wasn't a night's stay on the house, and Atreus was the kind of guy who got his moneys worth. Percy and I jogged down the street. There were only on few people out, they didn't look at us twice, they probably figured we were just two teens out for a morning run. It was cool and clear but the air was heavy. A haze hung over the city making everything look slightly saturated. Percy seemed to know where he was going, and when I asked him how , he replied between breathes, "dream." "Oh cool," I replied and continued following him. After about fifteen minutes, we had made it out of the city, there was a slight hill, up a winding road and tucked into the desert mountainside, was a small windowed building. It looked like some boring place, an insurance company or D.M.V. We walked up hesitantly, we were told that our journey would be undisturbed up to this point but for all we know as soon as we stepped through the door we could be attacked. When we were a few feet away from the door, we stopped looked at each other. I flung my arms around Percy, he squeezed me in return, I tried to hold back tears but it didn't work. I sobbed into his shoulder, not from sadness of our oncoming separation but because I was scared. Really, really scared. Scared for what the future might hold, scared for what would happen if I failed, scared that I couldn't do it. Percy whispered encouragements and tucked stray hairs behind my ears and then rested his chin on top of my head. I composed myself, sniffling. Percy took my face in his hands, making me look directly at him and he said with full confidence, "You can do this." "I can do this," I replied weakly, my voice cracking. I grinned up at him, he kissed my forehead and I let go. We both took a minute to prep ourselves, he only had to go a few more feet, but I had a lot more coming. I activated my armor and checked my back pocket to see if both my sword and shield were there. Of course they were. Percy held the door open for me and we stepped into the refreshingly chilled air. About thirty dead people met my stare. Some looked sad, some confused, a lot of blank expressions, but mostly they looked jealous. If I were a ghost I would be too. I felt bad, if anyone it's me, not a seven year old girl in pigtails neatly tied with ribbons. "Recently redesigned," said Percy, looking around. To me it just looked like your regular dentists waiting room; grey-blue walls and large clean windows. At the desk was a man in what looked like a C.I.A. uniform, suit, sunglasses, earpiece and all. Hearing Percy speak he looked up, "I'm glad you noticed, under our new authority we've undergone many great revisions. I finally got that much deserved pay raise, but unfortunately you cannot see the result of that; my finest Italian suit. But of course I have a dress code to follow." He tapped a name plate on his suit that read in Greek, "CHARON." He adjusted his tie, and regarded Percy, "Do I know you?" "No," replied Percy hastily. Charon furrowed his brow but continued signing the papers on his desk. "I'd like to enter the underworld," I said loudly, trying to be confident but not demanding. "Are you dead?" he asked, sounding bored. "No." "Then no can do," he replied, not even looking up at me. "Well, what would I do if I were dead?" He looked up at me confused, "If your were dead, then you'd wait till the next elevator arrives. Which should be in about…" he checked his watch, "three minutes." "Thanks," I said, then I took two fingers, pulled as much energy essence as I could from myself and transferred it to Percy. My vision went blurry and I almost fell, but Percy caught me. Before I had the chance to pass out, I grabbed Charon, putting my palm on his forehead, and took as much essence from him as I could hold. My vision sharpened and I felt like I'd just downed four shots of espresso. Charon's head hit the desk with a loud thunk. He was out cold. Percy and I stood for a minute looking at each other, quivering with anticipation, and then the elevator dinged.


	17. Chapter 17

I stepped into the elevator, following all of the other ghosts that squeezed in around me. A few of them passed right through me which felt kind of violating but there wasn't much I could do. There was only one button with a skull and crossbones label. I felt morally obligated to be the one to press it because I was the only solid being. The elevator dinged again, and Percy and I stared at each other not breaking eye contact until the doors closed, cutting off my view of him. For a second I stood listening to the elevator music, cheesy and cliché, but strangely relaxing, like something you'd heard in a cartoon.  
I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself, which wasn't easy because at that second the elevator dropped.  
I screamed as we fell. It was worse the shadow traveling, like the most extreme Tower of Terror ever. It wasn't just falling it was pulling us down. I kind of fell/sat on the elevator floor, clinging onto the hand rails screaming my head off.  
The ghosts clearly did not have a concept of gravity because they stood casually; emotionless. Whilst the stomach dropping feeling made me squirm they looked down at me like a crying baby. They had no time for this nonsense, they had to go get in line to wait for eternity.  
Suddenly the elevator slammed to a stop, and I hit the ceiling then fell back to the floor.  
Because I clearly had not suffered enough the elevator lurched horizontally flinging me into the doors. Dang this thing should really have seatbelts.  
I kept myself pinned to the door gripping on for dear life.  
The elevator slammed to a stop, I sat for a minute looking around at the ghosts waiting to see if I was in for any more terror.  
The elevator dinged one last time and the door opened.  
The ghosts filed out slowly in a neat line. I guessed they were used to queuing. Judging by the fact that one of them was wearing a 18th century dress, corset and everything, they were. Just as I stepped outside of the doors, somebody grabbed my arm, a man in an identical suit to Charon, said into bluetooth, "She's here," then he turned to me and said, "You shouldn't have come."  
"I didn't really want to," I replied, as he dragged me through the crowd of ghosts.  
He had shades on so I couldn't see his eyes but his face was kind. He had retreating pale brunette hair and a warm tight lipped mouth, that was kept in a grudging smile.  
"Living aren't allowed here," he stated through clenched teeth.  
"That makes sense, it is the 'Land of the Dead'," I replied smarmily.  
"Luckily for you," continued, "It gives you an express pass," he led my up a small stone staircase, "To judgment."  
We came up to Cerberus who growled ferociously at me, the man leading me snapped his fingers and Cerberus whimpered and retreated letting us through.  
"Who are you?" I asked.  
"Phlegyas," he replied sternly.  
"That's a mouthful," I replied.  
He chuckled lightly, "Yes it is. Why don't you just call me Phil?"  
I could tell he was trying to be serious and intimidating but it wasn't working, he was a nice guy, and I could see that.  
He led me up more stairs and onto a pavilion, The Judgment Pavilion.  
I gulped.  
Phil leaned in close and whispered into my ear, "Do not tell them your name or your lineage," and then he left me standing alone and he briskly walked back the way he had come.  
The pavilion was huge, a black rectangular marble expanse, with a dark roof held up by very few columns. At the far end I could see a large podium.  
"Come forward," boomed a voice.  
I walked forward, I could make out three ghostly figures, all sitting in thrones.  
One, with hollow eyes, a bitter scowl, and shoulder length greasy looking black hair, sat in the middle with a mallet. He was clearly the one who finalized the decisions.  
"I am King Minos," he announced.  
"I am King Aikos," announced the one on his left.  
"And I am King Rhadamanthys," said the final one on the right.  
"Can I just call you Rhad?" I asked, trying to project my voice, which ended up making the sentence echo for like twelve awkward seconds.  
"No," he replied.  
"Phil was cool with nicknames," I muttered to myself.  
"Wait," I continued, "I thought Shakespeare and Thomas Jefferson were the other judges."  
Minos scoffed, "Incompetent, they were too young."  
"Our masters respect the old ways, so we were reinstated," said Aikos.  
"And what is your name child?" asked Minos.  
"Errrmm," I thought, "Shelby. Shelby Elkins, daughter of Hermes."  
Minos squinted as if he was having trouble believing me.  
"Do you know Nico di Angelo?" asked Minos.  
The other two judges rolled their eyes as if to say 'Ugh, not this again'.  
"Yeah…" I replied hesitantly, "He's my friend."  
There was a pause and then Minos said very clearly, "Kill her."  
Two hellhounds, the size of military cars, appeared on both sides of the judges. They growled at me, ready to pounce.  
So I did what I knew would save my skin, at least for the next minute.  
I ran.  
I sprinted out of there as fast as I could.  
I always thought I would run my fastest when being chased by zombies but at this point hellhounds was enough to make me go all out.  
I must have run for at least twenty minutes straight. At the beginning I jumped and dodged around ghosts, but I grew lazy after the first hundred of them and just decided to run through. I looked back over my shoulder, I had lost them.  
But while I was busy focusing on what was behind me I didn't see the gaping chasm in front of me.  
Just as I was feet away from the edge I slid to a stop. Falling to my knees, hyperventilating.  
I sat for a few minutes thinking "Oh crap, almost fell down into Tuataras. Oh shoot, Percy said specifically not to do that. Oh gods, oh my gods. I am so tired." I lay down and caught my breath.  
I closed my eyes, but opened them again instantly.  
From all around me a voice sounded, deep and wise sounding, "My siblings have awoken."  
I looked around, wide eyed. I could have sworn the voice came from the chasm.  
Before I could call out I noticed something.  
I could hear buzzing in the distance.  
I sat up, the noise drew closer, it was like voices hissing, yelling and whispering to each other all at the same time.  
I didn't see the black cloud coming at me. How could I have? Everything around me was black. Camouflage wasn't hard, and I kind of stood out.  
Something grasped my ankle, I screamed and scrambled back. My hand slipped over the edge and I fell, off balanced, catching myself before I tumbled into the chasm.  
All around me swooshed creatures, like ghosts but made out of thick black smoke. They were small skeletal women, with pure black eyes, the only thing on them that seemed to be made out of vaguely natural flesh matter.  
They swooped around me like vultures around roadkill, playing with my hair and picking at my clothes.  
"Unfortunate little girl," said one, "the living don't belong here."  
"W-what are you?" I stammered, trying to keep away from them but not fall over the edge.  
"We are the Arai," hissed one, turning her head like a confused dog, but then she turned it completely 360 which totally freaked me out, "We are the spirits of curses."  
"Like the F word?" I asked.  
"No!" cried another, "Like your curse to be alone on this quest!"  
"Oh."  
"Yessss, child," whispered one into my ear, lifting my chin up, "You are a cursed one."  
I flinched pulling away from her as she dug her fingernails into my cheek.  
"But not enough curses," cackled one.  
"One can never have enough curses," screeched another happily.  
"Umm, yeah I think one can," I argued frantically.  
"One curse for everyone of the futile gods you serve," wailed one of them, they began to swirl around me faster, like hornets.  
"Aphrodite- you will have to choose between the one you have grown to love and the one who you have loved forever," cried one of the Arai.  
"Hephaestus- you will never be able to fix your favorite broken thing!" screeched another as she slashed at me with her talons, cutting open my chest from shoulder to shoulder.  
I gasped, watching the blood pour onto to my armor.  
I stood up trying to shove my way through the Arai as they shouted more curses at me.  
"Hermes- you will lose your voice when you wish to speak most!"  
I drew my sword, they backed away from it fleeing from its glow.  
Then I ran, away from the pit, away from the still swirling cyclone of curses.  
"Ares- you will lose your most important battle!" one called after me.  
I ran till my feet could carry me anymore, I had reached a small wall, only about seven feet high, made from cream stone. I scaled it quickly falling over the other edge into a rose bush.  
I crawled out of the thorns cut and distressed but safe.  
I was in a beautiful garden with bubbling fountains, stone pathways, gorgeous flowers that appeared to be made of gemstones and well trimmed trees.  
Persephone's Garden.  
I sat under a pomegranate tree, on a cement bench and cried.  
I sat sobbing with my face in my hands.  
I was beat up, tired, scared and worst of all: alone.  
Something cool touched my shoulder. I looked up ready to fight off more Arai.  
It was a shade, five actually.  
Sitting next to me was a pretty girl, about eighteen, in a sundress. She smiled at me kindly and stroked my cheek comfortingly. Of course she didn't actually make physical contact, he image shimmer when it got close to my heat, but I appreciated the gesture.  
Standing next to her, with his hand on her shoulder, was tall guy, same age, with African American features. I couldn't tell his original skin shade because of the fact that his entire body was that wispy pale blue-green mist. But even as a spirit he looked buff. Behind both of them was a boy with a sharp featured face, like a ferret, he held a bow made from the same ghostly smoke. He must have died with it in his hand.  
Standing directly in front of me, probably nineteen years old, incredibly handsome was a boy in Greek armor, he had a scar down the side of his face, whiter than the rest of him. Dang, for a ghost, this guy was hot. He looked like a Abercrombie model for the dead, an aberzombie.  
The girl next to me tried to speak, but all that came out was a chittering noise.  
Percy had told me about this, unfortunately I didn't speak ghost.  
I closed my eyes and prayed, "Hermes please allow me to understand at least one of these guys."  
I opened my eyes and looked up at the cute one, he grinned and held out his hand.  
"Hey," he said, "I'm Luke."


	18. Chapter 18

I felt my jaw drop.  
"Like Luke Castellan," I sputtered, "the guy who…nevermind."  
"Yeah," he replied.  
I guessed 'Recall those who have gone before,' wasn't limited to the living.  
I stared at him for a while, until he spoke further, "We were sent to help you."  
"Me?" I asked, "You knew it would only be me?"  
"Yes," he replied, "The voices said to follow the pink glow to the crying girl and to aid her in her quest."  
The pretty girl nodded in agreement.  
Pink glow? I looked down at my hands, my skin seemed to glow lightly with my magic, I was like a beacon.  
"The voices?" I asked.  
"Were guessing it was the fates," explained Luke.  
"Oh," I felt a bit honored, normally the Fates didn't directly involve themselves unless it was very important.  
"So what's this quest your on?" asked Luke.  
I explained to him the past few weeks happenings.  
"I see," he replied once I was finished, "That explains why the underworld changed a little."  
I raised my eyebrows curiously.  
"New workers, more guards, high security, much more professional looking," explained Luke.  
The tall buff guy chattered something angrily.  
"And Elysium has been shut down," translated Luke.  
"Shut down?" I gasped, shocked.  
"Yeah, so have the Isles of the Blest. They were deemed 'useless' and were shut down. All of the inhabitants are now forced into the fields of Asphodel with the rest. We were told heroes deserve no better than anyone else."  
"That's not really fair," I replied feeling a bit put off. I always felt reassured by the fact that if I die, I'd end up going to Elysium.  
It felt weird thinking it, but I wanted Hades back .  
"It isn't," agreed Luke, he offered me a hand, which I took (sort of) and I stood up. He eyes shined, I could tell they were once a brilliant blue. When he smiled the right corner of his mouth lilted to the side higher than the right and his eyes flashed.  
I was terribly sore, my legs ached and were shaking so badly that I fell over twice. The ghosts were patient, waiting silently for me to get up and continue walking with them. Is tumbled towards the dark palace, its spires jutting to the ceiling like sinister stalagmites.  
Luke walked directly next to me, so close I could feel his coolness on my skin. I liked having him there, he gave me the same feeling that Nico and Percy did, that automatic trust. I knew I was safe with him.  
The small sharp faced boy scouted ahead and the couple trailed behind.  
The five of us moved slowly, Luke walking casually as if he invaded locked down castles everyday.  
"Oh by the way, that's Lee," he said pointing to the boy, "And that's Charlie and Silena."  
I recognized all of those names from Percy's stories. Small pangs of sorrow struck my heart when I looked at them, the victims of their parent's war.  
Would I have the same fate?  
"So who else did you travel with on this quest?" asked Luke as if it were a normal conversation starter.  
I listed off everyone's names.  
Luke chuckled, "Percy just can't catch a break can he? Poor guy."  
"I know."  
"How's Annabeth doing? Fine I'm sure, she always was a fighter," said Luke looking both sad and happy. He was smiling but I could see pain in his eyes and his voice was filled with sorrowful nostalgia.  
"She's doing great. She and Percy are still dating and she's having a lot of fun designing Olympus."  
"She's the perfect girl for the job," chuckled Luke.  
"Isn't she though?" I replied.  
He laughed happily, but then his face fell, "and Thalia, she doing alright?"  
"Totally," I assured him, "She loves being a hunter."  
"So no boyfriend?"  
"Of course not," I replied, "She told there was only one boy for her and that it wouldn't work."  
"Yeah, I don't think it would," sighed Luke.  
I looked up at him, seeing his face, his expression was distant.  
I suddenly remembered everything Percy had told me about Thalia's history.  
I contained a gasp.  
Luke was the guy.  
Thalia and Luke had had something, but now they were separated in a way that couldn't be fixed.  
Luke and I walked in silence for a while after that.  
We reached a small archway leading into the foyer.  
The room was huge, resembling that of the main room in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Except much drearier.  
Using obsidian and ivory, the floor was tiled in Ancient Greek vase styled mosaic artwork showing the story of Hades and Persephone. I bet Persephone didn't like it, having to walk across the full storyboard of her kidnapping, everyday. The same colored glass made huge stained glass windows displaying ultiple images of Hades, Persephone, Cerberus and their were even three others. I beautiful middle aged black haired woman in formal attire and two children, a girl with sleek black hair and a calm expression. The other child was a boy, in an aviators jacket with dark circles under his eyes. Nico, Bianca and their mother.  
Persephone must have REALLY hated this room.  
Two curved staircases led up to a single giant arch way at the end of the room.  
It all looked a lot like a old catholic church.  
There were multiple archways leading out of either sides of the room.  
As I was looking around when I felt the sharp pain in my head, notifying me of a vision.  
I saw Nico, he looked at me and said, "Guards are coming for you, find me in the dungeon. Follow the hallway of the twelfth archway on the left."  
I snapped back to reality.  
I repeated was Nico had said aloud.  
Just in time.  
As Lee readied his bow, Silena and Charlie pulled weapons from nowhere, skeletons in war uniforms from every century poured into the room, aiming bows and shotguns at us.  
Lee chattered something to Luke.  
Luke nodded and then said to me, "They'll hold them off, we have to go."  
"But-" I tried to protest.  
I heard the clacking of bones which must have been one of the skeletons calling out a command. Arrows and bullets started raining down around us.  
Luckily they weren't very good shots, having no muscles or tendons, so only a few arrows scathed me. By this time my clothes had been completely soaked through with blood.  
Luke I raced through the twelfth archway.  
The black hallway twisted and turned.  
It seemed to go on for ages.  
Although we had traveled a long way I could still hear the echoes of the battle in the foyer.  
I was scared for Silena, Charlie and Lee. It's not like they could die again but I worried what would happen if they were captured. The Fields of Punishment did not seem like a place where I'd want to be.  
At the end of the hallway there was about a thirty yard stretch with doors on either side and one at the very end.  
"Check every one," said Luke.  
He started kicking open doors, all of them on the left side were empty. I opened three on the right before I found one that was inhabited.  
Inside was one of the most beautiful, horrifying and fascinating creatures I've ever seen.  
Something about it struck fear into me upon seeing it but as I stared I began to see through the cloud of darkness.  
It was a black stallion, simple looking except for the fact that it's mane and tail were made completely from flames. The fire sent shadows dancing around the small square carven in which it was held. I walked up to it.  
It was peaceful, staring at me curiously, sensing no danger.  
I placed my hand gently on its flank.  
There was a flash of pain in my head and I shut my eyes, every bad dream I've ever had flashed across my eyelids in a matter of seconds. Then it passed, ending with the sound of Nyx's laughter.  
I stumbled back for a minute but then went up to the horse and examined it more closely.  
Smoke streamed from it's nostrils.  
I touched it face preparing myself for more haunting memories, but none came. It must have only been on first contact.  
I recognized this creature from my mythology books; A nightmare.  
A literal mare of the night, the creature that personified bad dreams.  
"What's your name?" I asked.  
"Shadow," it replied in my head. He had a slight British accent and sounded like a movie announcer with a clear cool tone.  
I stood for a minute gaping at the telepathic horse.  
Then he bolted forward jumping into the hallway and disappearing. Shadow traveling far away from here.  
I sighed.  
Well, there goes the idea of me riding a mighty steed into battle, I thought.  
I stepped back out into the hallway.  
Luke looked at me sadly, "all the rest are empty."  
"How could that be?" I asked, "Nico just told me he was here."  
"They must have collected him and slipped past us during the attack," said Luke.  
"No," I said, quietly, feeling hopeless, "No."  
I sank to the floor.  
"No," I repeated.  
Luke sat down next to me.  
"It's alright, we know he's not dead," assured Luke.  
"How do you know that?" I asked.  
"Because his ghost isn't here," replied Luke, then he looked away like he didn't want to say something.  
"What is it?" I asked, "Tell me."  
"There using him as bait," said Luke, in hushed voice. I could tell he didn't want to say it out loud because it would only seal the truth.  
I sat listening to myself breath, each inhale was short and shaky, painful because of my dry throat and long exhales that almost never seemed to stop. As if my body was trying to sigh out the pain.  
I looked over at Luke, he smiled reassuringly at me.  
"What are we going to do? Without Nico I can't possibly retake the underworld," I muttered.  
"Why not?" asked Luke, "From what I've heard you're strong, smart, and fully capable."  
I returned his smile graciously.  
"Promise me when this place goes back to normal, you'll go for Rebirth," I said.  
"I tried, but there's a lot of paperwork, and some people argued that I wasn't eligible because of my…decisions," he reasoned. His blue eyes flashed.  
"Pffft," I replied, "Do it anyways. You deserve a second chance."  
"You think?" he asked.  
"Definitely, everyone tells your story with you as the hero," I told him.  
"But I wasn't," he said sadly, "I was the villain, only in the end did I realize how much I screwed up."  
"You saved everyone, Kronos would have taken over someone else if it wasn't you. And if he had they wouldn't have been strong enough to fight back like you did. You're a hero, Luke, you always were."  
He stared at the wall in front of him, a single tear streamed down his cheek, "Thanks."  
"No problem bro," I said, chuckling.  
We sat in silence casting pink and pale blue glows onto the walls.  
Just then, from the end of the hallway there was a great clashing sound, like someone banging trashcans togther and rattling metal chains.  
Around the corner crashed a large man in armor, screaming a battle cry. He slid around crashing into the walls, seemingly unaffected. He was like a dog trying to ice skate. He wore huge armor made from rough steel. He carried a spiked ball and chain, only a little smaller than an exercise ball. He himself must have been around eight feet tall, a titan.  
He reminded me of Juggernaut from X-Men. The way he managed to crash into the wall six times before even getting close to me and Luke.  
Luke pulled a sword from nowhere and stood at the ready.  
"Will that hurt him?" I asked looking at the ghostly blade.  
"It's a phantom sword, so yeah," breathed Luke, "It'll hurt a lot."  
"Good," I gulped.  
I was in no way ready to fight. I backed up to the final cell door.  
The Juggernaut titan swiped at Luke, but he jumped out of the way easily. Slashing at the titans metal gloved wrists.  
But then I had a plan.  
"Luke!" I called, "Can you phase through walls?"  
"Yeah," he asked, "Why?"  
"Even these cell walls?" I asked.  
"I think so," he called back.  
The titan threw the ball and chain, it phased through Luke and I had to dive out of the way to avoid being pinned to the wall by a yoyo of doom.  
Luke looked back at me to see if I was okay and the second he did, I pointed at the final cell showing him my plan. He understood immediately.  
"NOT FAIR!" cried the titan and he tried to lung at Luke but just passed through him.  
I ducked into the last cell on the right side, hiding.  
I watch as Luke slowly led the titan into the final cell.  
As soon as the huge armored body was completely inside, I slammed the door behind him, locking every bit and pulling the latches.  
I opened to little door allowing me to look in.  
Luke was still fighting the titan even in the tiny room.  
"Come on," I said.  
Luke tried to jumped into the wall, but instead slammed into it.  
"I can't!" he said.  
"But you said!" I pleaded.  
"I was wrong!" called Luke, slashing still.  
The Titan chuckled, "You are stuck!"  
"Yeah," said, Luke coolly, "and so are you."  
The titan stopped fighting immediately, his shoulders falling. He lumbered over to the door and I back away.  
He began to pound at it, the metal shook but didn't bend.  
"Menoetius cannot be imprisoned!" he yelled with such a force that I had to back up a few steps more.  
"Lea, Go!" yelled Luke.  
"But- " I protested.  
"He break out soon," argued Luke, "You have to go!"  
At that Menoetius punch the door and a huge dent crippled the black metal.  
"What about you?" I cried to Luke.  
"I'll be fine," he said desperately, then he said quieter, "Maybe I'll see you again."  
I could tell from his tone, he meant rebirth.  
"Yeah," I said, starting to cry again, "I'll see you again."  
Then I sprinted down the hallway.  
The foyer was empty, as if I was allowed here, just as long as I didn't have guests.  
I rushed up the stairs, knowing from all movies, video games, and TV shows, the final showdown always takes place after the corridor through the doorway at the end of the room.  
I ran through the biggest archway and into what I supposed used to be the throne room.  
It was empty and at the end I could see beyond the thrones an arena.  
The archway behind the thrones led into the open air.  
I walked out into it.  
The hunk of black rock fell, blocking the way I had come in.  
I was trapped.  
The arena was gigantic, the size of the coliseum.  
It was a huge circle, will walls going twenty feet up into empty stadium seats.  
Directly across from me in the stadium was what looked like the podiums of a courtroom, the middle one being the highest.  
Sitting behind these podiums were five hooded figures.  
On the right of the middle one was Nico, who looked down at me helplessly. I could tell he wanted to call out my name, because I felt the same way.  
All of the cloaked figures stared down at me.  
Something deep in my chest ached, I could feel the figures power.  
They were all titans.


	19. Chapter 19

Five of them, glaring down at me emotionless.  
They looked like chess pieces divided evenly on their dark thrones. They were made from various materials, with smooth features like marble figurines. Only two variations in composition: male and female. Three of them women, the other two on the outskirts; male.  
Sitting on the largest throne, in the middle, a cloaked woman. She was skeletal but smooth like a statue. Her right hand gripped tightly to Nico shoulder, digging her fingers in. Her nails were like talons and they screeched as she stroked her thrones left armrest. Although her eyes were only sunken sockets I could tell she was looking right at me, or through me, studying me. As if she was trying to figure out the easiest way to rush me. She was partially transparent and all of her body was deep black, her skin and hair the same as her cloak, as if the fabric was an extension of her body. She shined slick and iridescent as if she was made out of spilt oil.. The rainbow of color slid across her skin, beautiful and disgusting.  
In the throne to the right sat an almost identical woman, but instead of being made up of an oil spill she was something much more haunting; she was entirely crimson. Red robes draped over a malformed body that moved like liquid. It was a color red I would always recognize and never forget. It certainly wasn't fruit punch. It was the color I'd seen come from so many cuts and abrasions. Her entire body was made out of blood.  
Also female the one directly left from the middle throne was probably the most intimidating, at least to me. She was made from smoke, dim grey and common. Like a ghost. But if you looked closer you cloud see was made up that smoke, it sent chills down my spine. Gaunt screaming shades of the dead slid down her robes, screeching and wailing silently.  
There were only two men on the council. The one on the far right was disgusting, again like the others his body was made from a thick viscous material. He looked like the bottom of a riverbed, mud and silt swirling dark grey brown, with bottle caps and empty tin cans bobbing and emerging from his skin. He might want to see a doctor about abnormal growths.  
The other man, to the far left was fairly simple, at least compared to the others. He was completely made out of fire, flickering different colors in the dim light.  
"Welcome, Lea Reclin, Pawn of the Olympians!" announced the oily woman on the middle throne.  
"Pawn?" I asked to myself.  
Apparently the entire council heard me because they boomed with laughter.  
"What? Did you think they sent you out first because you were the most important! You need to relearn your battle strategies, girl!" the woman cackled, "The gods always send out the weakest link they can hoping that the enemy will be weaker!"  
Ouch. I'd gotten a lot of insults my entire life but this one hurt the most. It was the only one that really made sense. It was logical. I was just the pawn.  
Whatever.  
No use dwelling on what part I played just as long as I did the best I could.  
I stood taller, lifting my chin.  
The woman looked taken aback by my lack of argument.  
"Either way, we will treat you with hospitality," said the woman, standing from her throne gesturing openly towards me, "I am Styx your host and these are my siblings."  
She waved at each one of them announcing their names. First to her right, the blood woman, "Acheron."  
Then the man on the right, the mud, "Lethe.'  
She gesticulated to the left, "Kokytus and Phelegethon."  
I recognized two of the names; Styx and Lethe. Both underworld rivers. The rivers of promises and forgetfulness.  
The prophecy repeated in my head;  
Promises, Pain, Forgetfulness, and Fire.  
A threat to the gods so very dire.  
It was the rivers, all of them. Phelegethon must have been fire and Acheron, the bloody one, must have been pain.  
But there was one missing from the prophecy, Kokytus, the river of wailing.  
I wondered what that was about.  
"Come closer dear!" called Styx.  
I stood my ground.  
Suddenly my body clenched, locking into place. My feet slid forward as if I was being pulled by some invisible rope.  
I tried to struggle but I was paralyzed.  
"Now, now, where are your manners?" cooed Styx.  
I tried to yell and insult at her, but because my jaw was locked it came out as a growl.  
"Well, then. Might as well get to it," said Styx grudgingly, like she expected me to be happy about being imprisoned in a giant arena.  
She continued, "You will be tested with five trials, one for each of the Rivers. If you complete all of them successfully we will make a deal with you. But don't worry, we'll fix you up before you get started. We're not mean," she snapped her fingers and I was instantly healed, still locked in place, but the large cut through my torso sewed itself together and all of the little scratches and bruises. Everything knitting itself back into place.  
"Much better," she said, "Now let's get to it! I hate to leave my guests waiting."  
I got the feeling I wasn't the guest she was talking about, I was more of the entertainment. A little rag doll that that toss around until they got bored.  
"The First Trial," announced Styx, "Will be presented by Acheron! Let's test your threshold!"  
Acheron, the bloody woman, stood and spoke, her cool voice echoing like the acoustics of an indoor pool, "How much pain can you endure?"  
A lot, I thought to myself. I've nearly been killed multiple times. I've broken bones and not noticed. I've been thrown down a mountain side for the gods sake.  
I tried to speak again, it still didn't work.  
My body slackened and I fell to the cool fine dirt. I was released from my binds.  
"Give it all you've got," I spat.  
Acheron smirked, "Don't be so sure."  
She snapped her fingers and my insides exploded with pain.  
I thought I was going to vomit or pass out or something.  
It was like my internal organs had gone cannibalistic and were fighting, trying to eat each other. The pain ripped through every limb and I fell to the ground, convulsing. Every inch of my body burned, from my fingertips to my toes, my lungs being the epicenter.  
I writhed on the ground, trying to find a position where I didn't feel so on fire. I screamed, trying to exhale the pain, but no sound came from my lungs, they were to busy contracting into Barbie doll size.  
I could hear Nico yelling something but I couldn't hear it over the roaring ocean in my ears.  
I clenched my teeth, like when at the doctor's getting at shot. You know how they ask you to rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10. This was somewhere around 200.  
"Stop!" yelled Styx.  
The pain ceased immediately.  
I rolled to all fours, gagging, trying to maintain my breathing and get my heart rate down.  
"That was boring," said Styx distastefully.  
For you maybe, I thought.  
"You pass the first trial," proclaimed Styx, "Congratulations."  
She began to clap half heartedly as if I didn't deserve the applaud at all.  
I looked up at her, then to Nico, his mouth now gagged. His eyes were wide and he looked at me with despair.  
I gave him a small smile and forced my body to let me stand.  
"Let's not waste time!" called Styx, she sounded so happy watching me suffer, "Onto the second trial; Lethe."  
Lethe stood, a Lays bag emerged from his jaw and then sunk back in.  
"You must sacrifice a memory dear to you," he declared "Choose wisely."  
"Mmmm, what fun," said Styx, resting her chin on her palm.  
I browsed through all of my fond memories; eating Hamburgers with Henry on the Fourth of July, singing with Percy in the Daemon, eating ice cream with Nico and Percy.  
I realized that a lot of my good memories involved eating with either Percy, Nico or Henry.  
There was one that submerged from my subconscious, from when I was a god.  
I was visiting Nico at camp, we were walking through the forest. Just talking, joking about the gods and what they would look like if they were a sitcom. I must have been in a really good mood because I was laughing more than I usually do. There was a split second where Nico looked at me and grinned, and felt like sunlight on my face during a cold day. I'd never seen him happy like that, just blissful, like nothing else mattered for that split second.  
It hurt to think that I'd have to give it up. But it was the right one, nothing important, not to my life at least.  
"I found it," I said.  
"Well, let's see!" said Styx.  
Lethe snapped his fingers and the memory was torn from m head and displayed for everyone to see. It shimmered on a projected smoke, like an Iris Message.  
It was good to see it for a last time.  
"Awww, how cute!" said Styx.  
Then suddenly it flashed and disappeared.  
For a second I forgot where I was and what I was doing.  
I thought to myself, Okay, time for the second trial. Wait, third trial.  
"Third trial," cooed Styx happily, "Let's get to it!"  
Kokytus stood, her face blank, she spoke but instead of one voice she spoke with thousands, all of the tortured souls in her cloak, speaking for her, screeching in unison, "A duel," she said.  
"A duel?" I asked, "With who?"  
"An old foe," replied Kokytus.  
On the left side of the arena, a bit of the wall rumbled and opened up, out walked someone I wished I would never see again.  
"Palioxis," I groaned, "Really?"  
"Revenge at last," she snarled.  
"Yeah sure, go for it," I said, too exhausted to care much. I'd beaten her once, I could do it again.  
"No Son of Poseidon to help you now," she cooed at me. She edged around the arena like a puma about to pounce, head held low and her shoulders hunched.  
She wore a torn black toga and had rusty black chains rapping around her arms, dragging on the dirt.  
I stared at her for minute and realized she was right, I was alone. Just me against a powerful goddess and you know what? I wasn't scared.  
I laughed at her gaudily, imitating many enemies from my past.  
"Your right, I am alone. But guess what it doesn't matter! For so long so many people have told me that 'm strong and I never listened. I should have, because now I know. I kick major butt!" I shouted at her, "Come at me!"  
"Wait!" shouted Styx, "First you must choose your weapon."  
A rack appeared to my left glittering with fancy spears and bows.  
"I'm good with this!" I said, reaching into my pocket pulling out my shield and sword, opening it.  
I looked up at Styx. I smirked confidently, she looked very displeased and a little shocked, which made me even happier.  
"Are you sure?" she said.  
"Very," I replied.  
"Alright," she sighed, and then snapped her fingers lazily, "Get to it!"  
Instantly Palioxis sent a chain flying at me. I had anticipated her rash move and knew to dodge to the left. The chain whizzed past me so fast that not only could I feel the gust of air, but the heat of friction.  
Seeing that her trick wouldn't work on me, she snapped the chain back to her and began to spin both piece of rusty metal in circles, making a strong whooshing sound. We circled each other, both waiting for an opportunity. She grew impatient quickly, not bothering to bide her time. She flicked her right chain at me again, it shot forward wrapping around my torso. It was stuck like a fly in a spider's web, but only for a second, my sword had also been caught with me, giving me the ability to cut through the jagged links easily. A few feet of black metal dropped to the ground, freeing me.  
Palioxis howled in rage. She didn't like people messing with her weapons, I didn't blame her.  
She launched the chains at me again two at once. I used the skills I had learned from so many hours of playing Zelda. I spun and watched in slow motion as the chains, which happened to have small spiked maces on the end, collided with my shield and ricocheted off, back towards Palioxis stunned face.  
Her weapons flung back whapping her with twice the normal force, straight in the chest. I sprint forward, double slammed her with my shield to the chest then to the face with the hilt of my sword. She was pinned to the wall. I grabbed her face with my hand, using strength that I didn't know I had, lifted her up, like a bully lift a nerd up against his locker. Then I sucked as much energy essence from her through my finger tips. My entire body glowed a bright shade of pink.  
Then with her drowsy, I swung my sword in a full circle and chopped off her head.  
She exploded into a million tattered black pieces, like black fabric that had been through a paper shredder. It smelled like roadkill.  
I looked up and Styx, who seemed mildly impressed and then Nico, whose expression mostly showed horror.  
I wiped a few bits of the black remains off my face.  
Third trial complete.  
Palioxis lay a pile of ash on the ground, not fully dead because she's immortal, just rendered useless for the next few millennia.  
I raised my sword above my head and grinned victoriously.  
I'm sure I looked like I'd just been run over my a herd of cattle, but I stood like a trophy tall and proud.  
Styx was determined to ruin this happiness.  
She waved her hand dismissively.  
Instantly my sword shot out of my grip as if pulled by some magnetic force. It flew out of the arena and became a gold sparkle in the distance.  
I still had a shield but that wouldn't to me much good. It takes a while to bash someone's head in, and I hadn't mastered the Captain America Frisbee thing yet.  
"You won't be needing that!" chirped Styx.  
"But…my sword," I stuttered. What would I do without a weapon?  
Styx cleared her throat, "Fourth trial!" she cheered.  
Phelegethon (the one fire) stood, and announced, his voice deep and crackling, "You must navigate a labyrinth."  
"Let me guess, it's made out of fire," I said snarkily, rolling my eyes.  
Phelegethon looked shock, taken aback by the fact that I had guessed his big surprise, "Y-yes," he stuttered.  
"Bring it."


	20. Chapter 20

Flames erupted around me, twenty foot high walls reaching temperatures much higher.  
"Come and find us!" called Styx, her voices echoing through out the entire stadium.  
Luckily I have naturally good bearings, and knew I was still facing forward. Unfortunately I would inevitably get turned around quickly. The usual tricks wouldn't work, no marking the walls. It's pretty hard to draw on fire the last time I checked and the ground was solid rock. Also I got the suspicious feeling this wouldn't be a dormant labyrinth. There would be no way of telling, though, since the walls aren't exactly distinguishable. I could be going in circles without even realizing. Also, I didn't have any string to drag behind me or any bread in my pockets.  
So I figured I try the follow a single wall trick. I raced following the wall on my right, twisting and turning. It only took a few minutes to get out of breath, the smoke filling my lungs. It was so thick I felt like I was drinking syrup.  
I began to sweat profusely and cough so hard my lungs felt like they were lined with little landmines and every time I tried to exhale smoke it set them explosives off. I cursed repeatedly under my breath, which was more painful but strangely relaxing.  
I considered yelling out, hoping that Styx's snide reply would lead me towards her, but then I remembered the echo trick she'd used. No such luck.  
I stopped following the wall for a second, kneeling. I tried to catch my breath, looking at the cavern ceiling above me. Displayed on a smoky projected screen, it showed me, in live time. That's how the Rivers must have been monitoring. For a second it flickered, and then went out.  
I exhaled in question; confused.  
Then something appeared in front of me; dark in contrast to the flames.  
"Hop up little miss," said a posh sounding voice, "I don't fancy having debts."  
"Shadow?" I gasped, staring up at the black horse, his mane blending into the fire.  
"Indeed," he replied.  
"What are you doing here?" I breathed.  
"Apparently, saving your life," he replied, "You're dying of heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation."  
"Oh."  
"Quite."  
"Why can I talk to you?" I asked.  
"Most likely it's because you're a member of the Oneiroi, they are the only ones who can telepathically communicate with Nightmares like me," he explained, nudging me with his nose, ushering me to stand up.  
I tried to reply but all that came out was a cough.  
Suddenly, Styx's chilling voice cut through the air, "Lea? Show yourself1 nobody likes a cheater!"  
"Are you doing that?" I asked Shadow.  
"Yes, but I can't hide the Mirage Mirror for long," he said, as I clambered onto his sturdy back.  
The second I was secure Shadow bolted.  
So this is what light speed feels like, I thought.  
We darted back and forth, him navigating the maze effortlessly.  
Everything around us was a blur of fiery light, I'd never felt so exhilarated.  
This was way better than speed boating, faster too, it was so much faster.  
I almost cried out with joy, but held myself back.  
Within seconds we'd reach out destination. I wanted to keep riding, zoom out of that arena and far far away, but I knew I had to stay. For Nico, for the Gods, for the world.  
Shadow stopped abruptly and I hopped off, he said into my head, "just around the left corner, down the corridor, a right, then forward."  
"Thanks," I whispered.  
"Just paying you back," he assured me.  
"Maybe I'll see you again," I offered.  
"Perhaps," he replied, smirking as much as a horse can, then jumped into the flames, disappearing.  
I followed his directions exactly and found myself at the opening. I stepped out cautiously.  
The council applauded grudgingly.  
"Nice job," said Styx bitterly, "Although I don't know how you masked the Mirror."  
"I don't know how I did that either," I said lightly, laughing at their expense.  
Styx jumped to her feet, leaning over the arena's age, looking down on me, grinning maliciously, "My turn!"  
"What now?" I replied happily, "Are you gonna make me play hopscotch with cannibals. I'd win you know, I was always the best at hopscotch in my class; all of the first graders hated me! Plus, cannibals are horribly uncoordinated, trust me, I'd know! You should have seen that one you sent try to drive a bus!"  
I began to laugh so hard my stomach hurt.  
I think the smoke was making me a bit loopy.  
"A SACRIFICE!" Styx yelled as loud as she could, which was loud, "A climax to end the age!"  
"Alright," I said, growing quiet, "Let's make a deal."  
"Fine," she snapped jumping on the interesting possibility, "I'll give you the boy in return for something of equal worth."  
"No," I objected.  
"What?" gasped Styx, looking taken aback, "Isn't he the one you came for?"  
"I came to take back the underworld," I announced proudly, looking apologetically to Nico. He nodded in understanding.  
"In return for the greatest thing I have to sacrifice you give me the underworld, no loopholes, no cheating," I said.  
"Deal," replied Styx, her lips curling in pleasure.  
"You have to swear," I continued, "I would say swear on the river Styx but that would be a little strange to swear on yourself, so instead swear on your immortality."  
"I swear on my immortality," she began, "To give you the underworld in return for your greatest sacrifice."  
I nodded.  
I didn't really have much with my to give up, my sword was gone, Nico was imprisoned, my shield wasn't exactly the biggest sacrifice, all I had besides that was my powers.  
My powers.  
I cleared my throat, "In return for the underworld, I will sacrifice every trace of my immortal lineage that is in my body."  
There was a shocked silence, and then Nico began to shout and struggle through his gag.  
I looked at him, saying with my eyes 'I know what I'm doing.'  
He quieted immediately.  
"Deal," she snarled.  
I watched as pink light began to curl off my body like steam.  
This was my chance, all of my power at once.  
I snapped my hands up my palms level with the councils faces, the light blared at them.  
Everyone but Styx looked away from the light, blinded, falling into a heavy sleep.  
Styx however was determined to stay awake.  
She glared at me, "You broke your oath!"  
"No I didn't!" I yelled back at her, "I never said I wouldn't have one last hoorah!"  
She struggled to keep her eyes open.  
The last curls of my divinity curled from my finger tips, collecting in a pink sphere of light in between Styx and I.  
"Fine!" she spat, "Fine! Fine! Fine!"  
She leaned forward drunkenly.  
"If you have a loophole, than so do I! If you want the underworld than have it!" she screamed.  
The ground began to shake and split open. Stalactites began to fall from above I dodged, avoiding being impaled. I was expected things to go into slow motion like usual, but nothing happened. Instead I watched as the underworld crumbled around me.  
Suddenly there was a new light blazing bright then the pink sphere of my immortal essence.  
Styx was cracking, little hairlines cracks cut through her oily body, brilliant white light pouring from them.  
"No! No!" she cried, watching herself fall apart.  
"You swore on your immortality no loopholes, I didn't!" I yelled at her victoriously.  
She whipped her head up, and light exploded around her.  
I though it was over, all the other were fast asleep and Styx was mostly like vaporized.  
But the light faded and she still remained, "Neither you or I are immortal anymore! Finally, a fair fight!"  
She grabbed a staff from behind her throne and pulled off her hood revealing hollow socket eyes and greasy black hair.  
She jumped from the stadium, onto the dirt in front of me.  
She began to stalk forward.  
"Fair fight?" I challenged, "I don't have a weapon and you do!"  
She pointed shakily at the weapons rack that had been left from my duel with Palioxis.  
I sprinted as fast as I could towards it.  
Styx chased me with incredible speed for someone more than 3000 years old.  
I closed my fingers on the first weapon that was there, drawing a silver bow in front of me.  
I spun into a kneel and whispered a prayer under my breath, "Artemis, Apollo, you owe me from last year. Make it up now and bless me with a straight shot."  
Then I fired.  
A silver beam of light shot forward, veering slightly to the right, but correcting itself as if pushed back on course by the wind.  
It touched Styx in the middle of the forehead, but did not enter her skull.  
Instead she burst into the white light on the spot.  
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply, curling onto the ground assuming I was safe.  
I didn't notice the other Rivers waking.


	21. Chapter 21

As I laid on my back breathing heavily, staring at the cavern ceiling which had ceased its crumbling, I didn't see the titans begin to rise. I only noticed when Nico woke too; he began to scream, wriggling around like a caterpillar having a seizure, trying to get my attention. He certainly did. I sat up, watching in horror as Acheron, Lethe, Kokytus and Phelegethon stood up groggily. I gulped; Although Styx was the highest power I knew these guys would be just as hard to kill. Luckily, this time I wasn't on my own. With a crash of noise from behind me, and chariot burst through the pure stone wall from the shadows. It was pulled by skeleton horses and riding in it was the Lord Hades himself. He carried a giant black sword, and as he whizzed past me, I heard him say, "A certain Shadow told me now would be a tactically good time to rebel." Then he jumped into the stadium and with a single swoosh of his sword, turned all of the titans to dust just as they were yawning. With the problem solve so body registered no threat and gave up. So as you probably figured, I passed out.

***  
When I woke, I was in what appeared to be a bedroom. I lay on a four poster bed with lead colored satin sheets and intricate little black beads hanging from the curtains. The room was lit by a single oil map casting shadows over the pure black room. Everything had the same lead and black paisley pattern on it, the curtains, the wallpaper, and the pillows. It was dreadfully boring, but beautiful in a sad way. Everything looked vintage, from the bed tables to the empty picture frames. I sat up, soreness deep in every bit of my body. Sitting on an armchair was Nico; he smiled at me, saying 'good morning' without uttering a word. I threw myself off the bed and he stood up quickly, we both took weak steps forward and embraced tightly. We crumpled to the ground, still clinging to each other. I sobbed with joy into his collar. "Oh gods, Nico, you have no idea how much I missed you!" I cried. "I think I do," he said laughing through his tears, "you got to go on adventures while I was locked in box." We both sighed laughing weakly. "That seems to happen a lot doesn't it, sometimes a box sometimes a giant jar," I joked, burying my face deeper into the woolen collar of his jacket, "Plus, the adventures sucked with out you." "I'll bet they did," he sighed. We sat on the cool stone floor, our arms wrapped tightly around each other for a long while. I wasn't keeping track of time so it could've been minutes and it could've been an hour. "Promise me you won't get captured again," I said after a while. "I swear, but I don't know what to swear on anymore," he said, and we both laughed. I squeezed him tighter, not wanting to let go ever. There was no way I could lose him if I never let go. He pried me off of him slowly, saying, "My dad wants you to get ready. We're going to have a celebratory feast here and then visit Olympus." I squeezed his hand, and he looked me in the eyes, our stares locking, and he smiled in a way I've never seen him smile. It neither sad nor happy, it was mostly relieved, knowing that both of us were safe. "Closet full of fresh clothes, so get dressed up all formal," he continued, stepping towards the door but not losing eye contact with me. I let go of his hand, "If I wear I dress you have to wear a tux." "Now that's deal I'd love to make," he said and walked out of the room. I stood for a minute watching the door, not expecting him to come back, but just holding the moment. Then I headed across the room to a large wardrobe and opened it. It seemed as if Hades already had an outfit in mind for me, because there were multiple dresses in the closet, but all of them were virtually identical, varying by different shades of black. I could choose from dark grey to pure obsidian. The dress was a simple Lolita style, but with roses in replacement of bows. It was pretty, with a black button up corset and a frilly multiple layered skirt. It fit me perfectly, although it was bit short for my liking. But better too short than too long I figured, it's impossible to fight in a maxi dress. There were multiple accessories that had been laid out, including sheer black leggings that I was very thankful for, some black lace gloves, and a rose hairpin. Also set out were a pair of black ballet flats, which I pulled on easily. I sighed, might as well go full out on this outfit, after all Nico was wearing a tux for me. I took my armor, converted it into mist mode and set in on top of the wardrobe, and said, "Hermes, please deliver to Camp Half Blood, with my sword and shield." I assumed it worked because when I turned around to put on gloves and then turned back, the armor was gone. I went up to a small round mirror to put the hair pin in and gasped. I almost ran from my own reflection. I hardly looked like myself anymore. What threw me off the most were my eyes, which filled with tears as soon as I saw them. They were a dull shade of grey-blue, like my mother's. The color must have been drained out of them when my divinity was taken. My favorite physical feature, gone. But that was not the only thing that changed; I was healed on the exterior, although my insides still felt like mashed potatoes. There was large scar left from the Arai, from my right shoulder all the way across my torso. The pink streaks had completely faded from my hair, and my bangs had grown out completely. I looked so different from when I had first met Nico. I wouldn't have even recognized myself. I looked so much older from last year; I certainly had lost all traces of baby fat. My face was thin gaunt, with defined high cheek bones and a strong jawline. Same nose luckily, since I haven't managed to break it. My eye brows were still under control due to the waxing they had gotten from the Aphrodite cabin. I stood staring at myself for a minute, that was last week, seven days ago I had not started this quest, I had felt what it's like to be truly alone and I had not given up a part of myself. That meant today was June 25, the summer solstice. Tomorrow, I'd be turning fifteen. I put on a smile, telling myself to be proud; I'd just saved the world after all. Again. I laughed a little, a sad desperate laugh, hoping it would make me feel better; I'd saved the world twice now. Only a few more times and I'd be equal with Percy. I pulled back my bangs pinning them with the rose hairpiece. A shade entered the room, Silena. She looked at me and then slackened her posture trying to look exasperated. Then she glided up to me, snapped her fingers. My hair snapped into ringlets, with my bangs pulled back neater and more tightly. My makeup had been done, simple silver eye shadow, mascara, pink lip gloss and blush. "Thanks," I said hopelessly. If I tried to do my own makeup I'd end up looking like a Goth circus clown. "Where are Charlie, and Luke?" I asked. She gave me a look that said, 'I think you can guess.' "Rebirth," I said, and she nodded, "Are you going with them?" She nodded again. "You just came to say goodbye, didn't you?" I asked. She smiled and shrugged. I hugged her, as much as you can hug a ghost. Then she waved and glided out through the window. For a second I saw an image in my head, Luke, grinning at me, his blue eyes flashing with the mischievous light that dwelled behind them. I composed myself and head out of the door, wandering through the corridors, never getting lost. It felt like I knew where to go as if I'd walked these halls before. I skipped easily down the staircase into the foyer and through an archway on the right side of them room, into the dining hall. Sitting at the north end of the elegant extremely long dining table sat Hades, Nico on the east side and a cloaked woman on the west side. The table had to be at least twenty feet long and about five feet wide. I scrambled for a weapon; fining none on me I clutched a large candlestick. "Kokytus," I hissed at the titan. The swirling shades in her cloak flurried as she turned to face me. "At ease Lea," said Hades calmingly, "Kokytus is an ally." "But…" I protested, not letting go of the candlestick. "She's what you call a double-agent," explained Hades, "She is the one who aided me in escaping from my prison and allowed Shadow, the nightmare, to interfere with the Fourth Trial." "Oh," I said. Hades gestured to the seat across from him, at the south end of the table. I walked over hesitantly, and then realized I was still holding the candlestick, which I set on the table, embarrassed. I sat quietly and looked over at Nico. He wore a well fitted black tuxedo, and he looked great. He had cut his hair a little so it looked sleek and shiny instead of shaggy like usual. I grinned at him, he returned the gesture. "Feast," invited Hades, and shades began to carry in plates with various decadent meals. It looked amazing and I was hungry but I didn't partake. "Underworld food," I grumbled. I wasn't hungry enough to get myself stuck in a cave for the rest of eternity. Hades began to talk loudly, going on and on about the revisions the Underworld will be going under to get back to normal. I didn't listen. Instead Nico and I passed the time, catching each other's glances, smiling and giggling. Silently making fun of his dad together. I was so happy to have him back. After about an hour, Hades finally finished talking and announced, "It is time for you two to go to Olympus so that Lea may speak with my brother." He took up, scowling, as if even thinking of his brother was a bitter thought. He swept out of the room and Nico and I rushed behind him, speed walking side by side, trying to catch up. Hades led us into the foyer and I took a minute to observe the room in full. It was beautiful, drab, but beautiful. There were a few cracks and dents in the floors and walls from the arrows and bullets that had been fired at Silena, Charlie, Lee and I. Hades placed his hand on an ornamental topper of the right staircase banister he dragged his creepily long fingernails over it, and then twisted the topper, and it clicked into position. There was a low rumble and a portion of the black tile just below the middle balcony in between the stairs slid open. Out of the secret compartment rose a huge mirror, black and ornate and least seven feet tall. "Olympus," said Hades, and then our reflection in the mirror shimmered and faded being replaced with Olympus. I knew what to do; I reached out and touched the glass, my hand slipping through the surface like water. "Oh cool," I gasped, "A portal," and then stepped through into the warm New York air. Then Nico was standing next to me, but Hades did not follow. I reached for Nico's hand and we curled out fingers together. I led him up the familiar paths, it was early morning, the sun was just starting to send golden rays over the city. Nico and I ambled up the paths, and I told him all about my time as a goddess, he listened quietly, nodding and smiling to acknowledge that he was actually paying attention. He and I passed by Aphrodite's fountain, and I waved to Eros who was perched on the sash like usual. For some reason my heart didn't do the weird fluttery thing like usual. Nico and I looked so strange, wearing dark black in the middle of all the beautiful pastels. We looked like little smudges of soot. When we finally reached the entrance to the throne room, I let go of Nico's hand and he nodded, ushering me forward. "Go on," he said, "Amaze them." I strutted through the reception office; past the lady at the desk who called for me to come back and kicked open the door with my ballet flats and into the middle of the throne room. I stood looking up at the gods, smiling with my hands on my hips and said, "So I saved your butts again." Their chatter ceased immediately and they all turned from what they were doing to look at me in awe. Apollo contained a chuckle, and winked, pointing at me. Hermes smiled approvingly setting down his iPhone respectfully. Aphrodite looked at me in disgust, she muttered, "That outfit," and snapped her fingers. Dressing me up in a cream toga with gold jewelry. I didn't even pay any mind to the transformation, I had a feeling Aphrodite always does that. Dionysus, Hera, Zeus, Ares and Demeter all looked stunned and slightly offended. Poseidon, Hephaestus, Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite on the other hand seemed to admire my confidence and just smirked. "Excuse me?" asked Zeus. "You heard me," I said, "I gave up my freaking lineage so you guys could stay sitting pretty." Zeus cleared his throat nervously, at a loss for words. Hera was about to stand up and tell me off when Artemis and Apollo stood in union. "Oh keep it to yourself, Hera," spat Apollo, "We all know what you're thinking. We just don't care anymore." Hera gasped indignantly, scoffing at the offense. "This child has done well," said Artemis, "We shall reward her profusely." I could tell what they were about to offer so I held up a hand to stop them, "I don't want immortality, I don't want gifts, I just want to be left alone," I said, "All I want from you is to be left, no more quests, no more mixing me up in any of your business. I just want to live life at camp as a normal demigod." I began to walk out, so that they couldn't try to persuade me otherwise. "Unfortunately," called Zeus after me, "That is the one thing we can't do for you." I turned around on my heel abruptly, "What?" "The Fates have already decided your adventure is not over," said Zeus. I cracked my knuckles intimidatingly, "Let me talk to them." "Lea, listen," began Zeus, "You are the chosen hero of Olympus. It is your destiny." "Oh yeah," I asked indignantly, "What exactly is my destiny?" Zeus sighed, "You will be the one to end The Great Stirring."


End file.
